Gabon's transitional president, Brice Oligui Nguema, opened a state visit to France on Monday with the signing of three strategic agreements, as the two countries seek to rebalance a partnership that spans security, trade, and natural resources. French President Emmanuel Macron received Oligui Nguema at the Élysée Palace for talks described by Libreville as focused on delivering "concrete results that are tangible for the people."
The centrepiece of the visit was a memorandum of understanding between the Gabonese government and Eramet, a French mining group whose subsidiary Comilog operates manganese extraction in Gabon — a Central African nation that ranks among the world's leading producers of the mineral, widely used in steel manufacturing. The MOU sets out plans to process up to 700 kilotons of manganese ore per year inside Gabon by the end of 2031, a step Libreville says will generate greater added value domestically and advance the country's industrialisation. Additional agreements were signed covering security cooperation and the water and energy sectors. Further deals, particularly on manganese, are expected before the visit concludes.
The negotiations are not without friction. Gabon has set a firm deadline of January 2029, requiring all manganese ore to undergo an initial stage of processing on Gabonese soil before export. France has expressed support for the principle but is pushing for more time, arguing that the timeline is too demanding given the scale of industrial and energy infrastructure investment required. The water supply sector presents a separate sticking point: an agreement signed with the French group Suez to improve drinking water access in the capital, Libreville, has stalled, and Paris is pressing for commitments worth an estimated 120 billion CFA francs to be honoured.
On the military front, Gabon is seeking greater disengagement of French forces, including the return of the title deeds to the Camp de Gaulle, a former French military base in Libreville, with future cooperation to be limited largely to training. Gabon has also been openly diversifying its external partnerships, including with China, Turkey, and India — though France remains its principal diplomatic partner. Looming over the visit is Gabon's public debt, which exceeds 70% of GDP; Libreville is pursuing a programme with the International Monetary Fund while France, which chairs the Paris Club of creditor nations, is encouraging a negotiated financial solution.
The visit has also drawn attention from human rights advocates. Lawyers representing Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, a former prime minister and leading political opponent who has been held in pre-trial detention for three months on fraud allegations dating to 2008, have called on France to use its influence to secure respect for their client's fundamental rights. The legal team argues the case against him is without substance and urges both governments to act. The issue adds a rights dimension to what is otherwise a heavily economic agenda, underlining the complexity of France's evolving relationship with one of its longest-standing African partners.