Word: mba
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Rude Awakening. No African leader had seemed more secure than pro-Gaullist Mba (pronounced um-bah), who won a 99.6% mandate...
...overwhelming mandate was illusory. Mba won it only by promising his archrival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, the prestigious Foreign Minister's portfolio...
Aubame had only one thing in common with Mba-the roots and culture of the once-cannibalistic Fang people, a tribe that has dominated Gabon's northern reaches since the early 1800s. Last year, when Mba tried to ease Aubame out of the Cabinet by offering him the presidency of the Supreme Court, the deal fell through. As chief of the opposition, Aubame insisted on also keeping his National Assembly seat. Last month, with the defeat of a bill aimed at eliminating one of Aubame's two jobs, Mba flew into a rage and tried to force...
...hauled from his bed with a revolver in his side, then found himself quickly spirited off to the Baraka military camp outside the capital. When Libreville awoke, the rebels had control of the airport, post office, radio station and government buildings. The coup committee announced that "Léon Mba and his acolytes" had been thrown out, named Aubame provisional Prime Minister, and looting got under...
...looked as if Mba had followed in the ignominious path of Dahomey's Hubert Maga and the Congo Republic's Fulbert Youlou, both of whose governments were toppled last year. De Gaulle did not choose to intervene in those insurrections. This time, however, more was at stake. Claiming that the Gabon coup did not have popular support, De Gaulle implemented a "mutual defense" agreement signed in 1960 when Gabon became independent. Eleven hours after Mba's rude awakening, French help...