André Dieudonné Berre (born 3 September 1940)''Les Élites gabonaises''
(1977), page 22 . is a

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

ese politician. He served in the government of Gabon from 1990 to 2003 and was the Mayor of

Libreville Libreville (; ) is the capital and largest city of Gabon, located on the Gabon Estuary. Libreville occupies of the northwestern province of Estuaire Province, Estuaire. Libreville is also a port on the Gabon Estuary, near the Gulf of Guinea. A ...

, the capital and largest city, from 2003 to 2007. He is a member of the

Gabonese Democratic Party The Gabonese Democratic Party (, PDG) is a political party in Gabon. It was the dominant political party in Gabonese politics from 1961 until 2023, when it was deposed in a coup d'état against President Ali Bongo. It was also the sole legal ...

(''Parti démocratique gabonais'', PDG) and is currently a Deputy in the

National Assembly of Gabon The National Assembly () is the lower house of the Parliament of Gabon. It has 143 members, elected by Two round system The status of the Parliament is unclear following the coup d'état four days after the 2023 general election. Legisla ...

Political career

Born in

Lambaréné Lambaréné is a town and the capital of Moyen-Ogooué in Gabon. It has a population of 38,775 as of 2013, and is located 75 kilometres south of the equator. Lambaréné is based in the Central African Rainforest at the river Ogooué. This riv ...

, Berre became a geologist and was Deputy Director-General of the Shell Gabon oil company during the 1970s. He was then Director-General of Shell Gabon from 1977 to 1990."Berre André-Dieudonné", ''Gabon: Les Hommes de Pouvoir'' N°4
Africa Intelligence
5 March 2002 . In late May 1990, following riots in

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. Nearby Cape Lopez is Gabon's weste ...

that were sparked by the mysterious death of opposition leader Joseph Rendjambé, Berre complained that "the rioters systematically destroyed the infrastructure that we have invested many years to create". Berre entered the government as Minister of Trade and Industry later in 1990. He remained in that post until March 1994, when he was instead appointed as Minister of the Economy, Planning, Reform of the Parastatal Sector, and Privatization. He was then moved to the post of Minister of Trade, Industry, Small and Medium-Sized Industries, and the Craft Industry, in charge of the Reform of the Parastatal Sector and Privatization, in October 1994. He was instead appointed as Minister of Higher Education, Research, and Technological Innovation, in charge of Relations with the Constitutional Assemblies, in 1999.List of governments of Gabon
, IZF.net . As a PDG candidate in Libreville, Berre won a seat in the National Assembly in the December 2001 parliamentary election. He remained in the government after the election and was moved to the position of Minister of Communication, Posts, and Information Technologies on 27 January 2002. Following the December 2002 local elections, he was elected as Mayor of Libreville on 19 January 2003, receiving the votes of 91 out of 97 municipal councillors; Mehdi Teale was then appointed to replace him as Minister of Communication. When

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

, the President of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, visited Gabon in early February 2004, Berre designated him as an honorary citizen of Libreville and gave him a ceremonial key to the city. In late 2004, he banned the sale of drugs in Libreville's streets, describing it as "a harmful and illegal practice". In the December 2006 parliamentary election, Berre was elected to the National Assembly, winning the first seat from the First ''Arrondissement'' of Libreville."Gabon : Dieudonné Berre reçoit les responsables des fédérations PDG du 1er arrondissement de Libreville"
, GabonEco, 22 December 2007 . Because parliamentary deputies in Gabon are not allowed to hold any other elected office, Berre stepped down as Mayor of Libreville so that he could retain his seat in the National Assembly, and Alexandre Ayo-Barro was elected to succeed him as Mayor in May 2007. Berre is a member of the Political Bureau of the PDG as of 2007. Following the death of President

Omar Bongo Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until Death and state funeral of Omar Bongo, his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese De ...

in June 2009, Berre stressed stability and continuity: "Gabon is being governed. The ministers are here and doing their work. I'm in the (National) Assembly and we are legislating. All the other institutions are working."Patrick Fort
"Senate speaker becomes Gabon's first woman president"
AFP, 10 June 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berre, Andre Dieudonne Members of the National Assembly of Gabon People from Libreville Living people 1940 births Gabonese Democratic Party politicians Government ministers of Gabon Mayors of places in Gabon 21st-century Gabonese politicians