Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge (born 5 May 1946Janis Otsiemi ''Guerre de succession au Gabon'' (2007), page 97 .''Les Élites gabonaises'' (1977), page 39.) is a
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...
ese politician who was Vice-President of Gabon from 1997 to 2009. He is the President of the
Democratic and Republican Alliance
The Democratic and Republican Alliance (, ADERE) is a political party in Gabon.
History
The party won a single seat in the 1996 parliamentary elections. It gained two more seats in the 2001 elections and retained all three seats in the 2006 el ...
(ADERE), a political party. As Vice-President of Gabon, Divungi Di Ndinge exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from May 2009 to June 2009, while
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Divungi Di Ndinge, a member of the Punu ethnic group, was born in Alombié,"Divungi di Ndinge Didjob", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir n°4'' Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . near
Port-Gentil
Port-Gentil () or Mandji is the second-largest city of Gabon, and it is a leading seaport. It is the center of Gabon's petroleum and timber industries. The city is located on a delta island in the Ogooue delta with no bridges to the mainland. Nea ...
in western Gabon. An engineer by profession, specializing in electricity, he began working at the Energy and Water Company of Gabon (SEEG) in 1972, initially as assistant to the Technical Director. He rose rapidly at SEEG and became its Director-General in 1974, remaining in that post until 1981. He was also a ministerial delegate and adviser to President Bongo from 1978 to 1981.
Divungi Di Ndinge then served in the government as Minister of Energy and Hydraulic Resources from 1981 to 1990; he was a member of the ruling
Gabonese Democratic Party
The Gabonese Democratic Party (french: Parti Démocratique Gabonais, abbreviated PDG), is the ruling and dominant political party of Gabon. Between 1968 and 1990 it was the sole legal party.
History
The party was established as the Gabonese Dem ...
(PDG) during that time. He joined the opposition in 1990,Siméon Ekoga "Net recul démocratique et retour au monopartisme de fait au Gabon" continentalnews.fr, 2 August 2008 . becoming Secretary-General of ADERE in 1993. He was the ADERE candidate in the December 1993 presidential election;''Political Parties of the World'' (6th edition, 2005), ed. Bogdan Szajkowski, page 241. he announced his candidacy on 12 October 1993,''Africa Research Bulletin'' (1993), page 11,183. and in the election he received 2.2% of the vote.
After the 1993 election, ADERE joined the Presidential Majority. Divungi Di Ndinge became Mayor of
Mouila
Mouila is the capital of the Ngounié region of Gabon. It lies on the Ngounié River and the N1 road and has a population of about 20,000 people. Its main sight is Lac Bleu, a lake known for its bright blue water.
Mouila is very spread out ...
in 1996, and he was also elected to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
as an ADERE candidate in
Ngounié Province
Ngounié is a province of south-central Gabon covering an area of . Its capital is Mouila. At the 2013 census it had 100,838 inhabitants. In 2016, its governor was Benjamin Nzigou.
History
The province is named after the Ngounié River, which ...
in the December 1996 parliamentary election. He was then appointed by Bongo as Vice-President of Gabon in May 1997"Gabon: Vice-president reappointed after resignation", AFP (nl.newsbank.com), 23 January 1999. and consequently stepped down from his posts as Mayor of Mouila and as a Deputy in the National Assembly. In his role as Vice-President, he acted as the deputy of the President of the Republic, but he was not the constitutional successor to the Presidency in the event of a vacancy in the office. Following the re-election of President Bongo in the December 1998 presidential election, he resigned as required by the constitution, but was reappointed on 23 January 1999 after Bongo took office for his new term.
Divungi Di Ndinge survived an alleged assassination attempt at the Mouila airport on 20 January 2003. Following the November 2005 presidential election, Bongo reappointed him as Vice-President in January 2006.
On 10 October 2007, Divungi Di Ndinge was evacuated to the
American Hospital
The American Hospital of Paris (''Hôpital américain de Paris''), founded in 1906, is a private, not-for-profit hospital that is certified under the French healthcare system. Located in Neuilly-sur-Seine, in the western suburbs of Paris, Franc ...
in
Neuilly-sur-Seine
Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...
, near Paris, due to what was described as "sudden depression". Later in 2007, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Bongo's rule, Divungi Di Ndinge said that Bongo had been "able to establish a strong bond with ispeople based on dialogue and tolerance".
2009 events
Bongo's wife,
Edith Lucie Bongo
Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba (March 10, 1964 – March 14, 2009) was the First Lady of Gabon as the wife of President Omar Bongo from 1989 to 2009.
Biography
Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was born March 10, 1964. She was the daughter of Republic of th ...
, died in March 2009. Following her death, it was announced on Gabonese television on 6 May 2009 that Bongo was "temporarily suspending his activities" as President in order to "regain strength and rest". The announcement stressed that Bongo had been deeply affected by the illness and death of his wife, and it said that Divungi Di Ndinge was taking over presidential duties while Bongo's activities were suspended. Divungi Di Ndinge represented Gabon at the inauguration of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
n President
Jacob Zuma
Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...
on 9 May 2009.
Bongo died in a Spanish hospital on 8 June 2009. Under the terms of the constitution,
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
President
Rose Francine Rogombé
Rose Francine Rogombé (''née'' Etomba) (20 September 1942 – 10 April 2015) was a Gabonese politician who was Acting President of Gabon from June 2009 to October 2009, following the death of long-time President Omar Bongo. She constitutionall ...
then took office as Interim President on 10 June and Divungi Di Ndinge accordingly ceased to exercise presidential powers. Although he resigned, as required by the constitution, following Bongo's death, Rogombé reappointed him as Vice-President on 27 June 2009."Gabon : Didjob Divundi Di Ndinge reconduit à la vice présidence" , Gaboneco, 29 June 2009 . This was believed to be part of Rogombé's apparent policy of preserving the political, ethnic, and regional balance of state institutions crafted by Bongo during her interim presidency.
Divungi Di Ndinge said on 21 July that he would not be a candidate in the 30 August 2009 presidential election. At its Fourth Extraordinary Congress, ADERE declined to endorse any candidate, with Divungi Di Ndinge calling on party activists to vote according to their conscience at the conclusion of the congress on 2 August 2009.
After Bongo's son,
Ali Bongo Ondimba
Ali Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo; 9 February 1959),"Bongo Ali", ''Gabon: Les hommes de pouvoir'', number 4Africa Intelligence 5 March 2002 . sometimes known as Ali Bongo, is a Gabonese politician who has been the third president of Ga ...
, won the presidential election and took office on 16 October 2009, he dismissed Divungi Di Ndinge from his post as Vice-President. In Mouila, Divungi Di Ndinge opened a hotel called Mukab on 19 December 2009; the building was formerly a residence belonging to him.
At a plenary session on 15 January 2010, ADERE decided to rejoin the Presidential Majority, which it had left in mid-2009, while expressing support for the reforms instituted by President Bongo since he took office. Divungi Di Ndinge was an opposition leader at the time of the August 2016 presidential election; in the midst of the violence that followed the announcement of Bongo's re-election, he was one of the opposition leaders briefly detained at the campaign headquarters of opposition candidate