"The resources of our continent attract, more than ever, the interests of rich countries"
About this Quote
There is a cold realism in Bongo's phrasing: not "aid", not "partnership", but "interests". He’s describing geopolitics the way a veteran insider would, stripping away the sentimental language that usually coats Africa-West relations. "The resources of our continent" is both inventory and warning label. It casts Africa not as a passive recipient of global attention, but as a site of extraction whose value is being recalculated in real time.
The line also carries a sly inversion. Rich countries, in the usual script, are the benefactors; here they are the ones pulled by gravity, "attract[ed]" by what they need. That verb makes the pursuit sound almost natural, as if the scramble is inevitable. Bongo’s subtext is sharper: if outside powers are "more than ever" interested, it’s because their own economies are hungry and anxious - energy insecurity, minerals for industry and, increasingly, strategic inputs for technology. The compliment to Africa’s wealth doubles as an indictment of how predictable the attention becomes when commodity prices rise.
Context matters. Bongo ruled Gabon for decades, a petro-state with deep ties to France and a political model often criticized as clientelist. Coming from him, the quote reads less like activist rhetoric and more like a leader acknowledging the transactional nature of sovereignty in a resource economy. It hints at a bargaining posture: if your interest is growing, the asking price - political, financial, diplomatic - should rise too. It’s not idealism; it’s leverage, stated plainly.
The line also carries a sly inversion. Rich countries, in the usual script, are the benefactors; here they are the ones pulled by gravity, "attract[ed]" by what they need. That verb makes the pursuit sound almost natural, as if the scramble is inevitable. Bongo’s subtext is sharper: if outside powers are "more than ever" interested, it’s because their own economies are hungry and anxious - energy insecurity, minerals for industry and, increasingly, strategic inputs for technology. The compliment to Africa’s wealth doubles as an indictment of how predictable the attention becomes when commodity prices rise.
Context matters. Bongo ruled Gabon for decades, a petro-state with deep ties to France and a political model often criticized as clientelist. Coming from him, the quote reads less like activist rhetoric and more like a leader acknowledging the transactional nature of sovereignty in a resource economy. It hints at a bargaining posture: if your interest is growing, the asking price - political, financial, diplomatic - should rise too. It’s not idealism; it’s leverage, stated plainly.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
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