“The people of Gabon have chosen the path of reconciliation and renewal,” said Gabon’s President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, describing the country’s peaceful transition after the August 2023 coup and his May 2025 inauguration.  He emphasized that this process involved “an inclusive national dialogue and a constitutional referendum”, paving the way toward free and transparent legislative, local and senatorial elections “with a view toward a definitive restoration of constitutional order by January 2026”.  Gabon, he said, now stands “upright, dignified and ready to take up its rightful place in the community of nations”.

The new Gabon symbolizes “the transformation of hardship into hope, of dependency into dignity, of division into unity — and all without bloodshed”.  The President argued that Africa must no longer be relegated to “the role of providers of raw materials for which others set the price and from which others profit”. He called on investors to pursue “win-win partnerships” that would enable Gabon to process its resources at home, create jobs and develop industries rooted in equity and mutual respect. Today’s global crises require “more sustained and more staunch collective engagement”, particularly in Africa where conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, the Horn of Africa and the Sahel demand urgent international support.

“Instead of constantly stigmatizing and condemning the States of the Sahel,” he said, “the international community would benefit from supporting them in their battle against the many-headed threat of terrorism.” Turning to global peace and justice, the President reaffirmed Gabon’s “support for the two-State solution, the only way to guarantee a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians” and renewed his country’s opposition to the embargo on Cuba.

On climate, he warned that the “triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution is an existential threat for humanity”, urging fair compensation for Gabon’s role as guardian of the Congo Basin, “the second largest green lung of our planet”.  He concluded by underscoring the urgency of reform:  “International peace and justice can only be guaranteed by a revitalized multilateralism,” particularly through Security Council reform.