Last modified: 2017-01-15 by bruce berry
Keywords: gabon | president | tricolour |
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Interesting to note the two different shades of blue
found on the flag, suggesting that the “presidential blue” and the “national
flag blue” are distinct, which in turn suggests that the
national flag should never be rendered with too dark a shade of blue.
António MARTINS-Tuválkin, 26 Dec 2016
Presidential Flag of Gabon
used after 1990 was the national tricolour with white disk with the coat of arms in the middle. Before that a
square flag being banner of arms was used, as shown, in Smith (1982)
[smi82].
Željko Heimer, 02
Oct 2001
Image by Željko Heimer, 02
Oct 2001
Ratio: 1:1
Source: Smith (1982) [smi82]
The initial President's flag was a square banner of arms as shown in Smith
(1982)
[smi82].
Željko Heimer, 02
Oct 2001
It was asked why the Gabonese President's standard changed in the 1990s
despite there being
no change in the President. A possible answer is political. In June 1990, the
16th French-African summit took place in La Baule. Francoise Mitterrand, then
president of France, gave a famous speech in which he urgently asked for more democracy
in the African countries. It was not only a call but also a threat, which can
be summed up as: "There cannot be democracy without development, but
there cannot be development without democracy" (i.e. no more funds and
military help from France if there is no progress towards democracy). In
Gabon, a National Conference gathered from 27 March to
19 April 1990 and recommended multi-party democracy to then President Bongo.
Bongo had to abandon some of his
personal powers and it is possible that this modification of the president's
status was reflected by a modification of his standard.
Ivan Sache, 06 Oct 2001