ABSTRACT
The limited reforms resulting from a prolonged upheaval in Gabon during the first half of 1990 ended the single-party regime and created a new political framework for the following years. This chapter examines the rise of a single-party system under President Omar Bongo's leadership after November 1967 during a period in which the development of the country's oil and minerals was irrevocably changing the economy and society. Bongo greatly increased the size of the Presidential Guard (PG), which was commanded by privately employed French officers. The chapter focuses upon the circumstances that destabilized the regime between January and May 1990 to the point of forcing Bongo and his associates to accept the restoration of multipartyism and the freer exercise of civil liberties. It deals with the course of political life, including the regime's tactics for perpetuating itself in power, during the subsequent four and a half years.
