Jean-Hilaire Aubame (10 November 1912 – 18 August 1989) was a Gabonese politician active during both the colonial and independence periods. The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself." Aubame was installed as President of Gabon during a 1964 coup d'état against M'ba. However, the coup was toppled three days later, and although he did not participate in the coup's planning, Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and 10 years of exile. He was beaten almost daily by his prison guards while serving out his sentence. M'ba's successor as President, Omar Bongo, allowed the return of Aubame to Gabon in 1972. The elder politician died in 1989 in Gabon's capital of Libreville.
Youth and early political career
thumb|left|Fangs in a [[Mission (Christian)|Christian mission, c. 1912]]
Born into a Fang family near Libreville, Aubame lost his father at eight years of age and his mother at eleven. Abbé Jean Obame, stepbrother of Léon M'ba, looked after the orphaned Aubame and arranged for schooling at several Roman Catholic missions.
M'ba helped get him a job in customs on 24 March 1931. First appointed to Libreville from 1931 to 1935, he was transferred to Bangui in 1935 and then to Brazzaville in 1936, He was also a member of the Association des fonctionnaires, an organization which was dominated by two other soon-to-be politicians: René-Paul Sousatte and Jean Rémy Ayouné.
Following the speech given by Charles de Gaulle on the Appeal of 18 June 1940, Aubame sided with the Free French, and in November was sent by Libreville authorities to rally Fangs for the cause. In February 1942, Aubame met colonial administrator Félix Éboué and quickly became his protégé.
Aubame participated in the 1944 Brazzaville Conference by winning 7,069 votes out of 12,528 possible. While a deputy he lived in Paris and toured Gabon regularly. Aubame was also a leader in solving African problems, particularly developing the Gabonese standard of living and planning urban sites. On 29 September 1951, he voted to increase the minimum wage in the overseas territories of France, and served as vice president of its Commission from 1953 to 1955. The party in turn backed Aubame's reelection in 1951 and 1956. Fairly quickly, Gabonese politics became dominated by Aubame, supported by the missions and the administration, and M'ba, supported by the settlers.
Deputy to the Gabonese Territorial Assembly
In 1952 he was elected as Woleu-N'Tem's representative for Gabon's Territorial Assembly. M'ba's party won 21 seats against 19 for Aubame's party after a recount. However, in the absence of an absolute majority, on 21 May 1957, both parties were obligated to submit a list of individuals that both agreed were suitable for inclusion in the government. With M'ba's victory, many elected UDSG members joined the parliamentary majority, giving the ruling government 29 of the 40 legislative seats. Well installed in the government, he slowly began to reinforce his power.
Independence and opposition
Opposition leader
thumb|Flag of Gabon
After voting in favor of the 1958 French constitutional referendum, Gabon became pseudo-politically independent. Legislative elections were scheduled for 19 June 1960 through the Scrutin de Liste voting system, a form of bloc voting in which each party offers a list of candidates who the population vote for; the list that obtains a majority of votes is declared the winner and wins all the contested seats. Through the redistricting of district and constituency boundaries, the BDG arbitrarily received 244 seats, while the UDSG received 77. In the months that followed, the legislative majority was plagued by internal strife. M'ba, now President of Gabon, decided to dissolve the Assembly and looked to the opposition to strengthen his position.
With Aubame, he formed a number of sufficiently balanced political unions to appeal to the electorate. On 12 February, they won 99.75% of the vote, and later that day, M'ba, running unopposed, was elected president of Gabon. Tensions rose when a new constitution was unanimously adopted, on 21 February 1961, providing for a "hyperprésidentiel" regime. Under this system, M'ba was able to appoint ministers whose functions and limitations were decided by him.
On 19 February, he broke his ties with Aubame; all UDSG representatives were dismissed, with the exception of M'ba supporter Francis Meye. This was due to Aubame's refusal to merge the UDSG with M'ba's and create a one-party state. Thereafter, M'ba claimed that Aubame had resigned from the National Assembly, citing incompatibility with parliamentary functions. Aubame resolved the accusation by resigning from his post as President of the Supreme Court, complicating matters for M'ba. as an "economy measure".
The electoral conditions were announced as such: The election 67 districts were reduced to 47. M'ba disqualified Aubame by announcing no one who held a post recently was banned. Any party would have to submit 47 candidates who had to pay US$160 or none at all. Thus, over US$7,500 would be deposited without considering campaign expenses. M'ba's idea was that no party other than his would have the money to enter candidates. In response to this, the opposition announced its refusal to participate in elections that they did not consider fair.
1964 Gabon coup d'état
thumb|left|Gabonese and French military officers
During the night of 17 February and the early morning of 18 February 1964, 150 members of the Gabonese military, gendarmerie, and police, headed by Lieutenant Jacques Mombo and Valére Essone, seized the presidential palace. They arrested President of the National Assembly Louis Bigmann, French commanders Claude Haulin and Major Royer, several ministers, and President M'ba, who was dragged from his bed at gunpoint.
During these events, no gunshots were fired. The people did not react strongly, which according to the military, was a sign of approval. A provisional government was formed, and the presidency was offered to Aubame. The government was composed of civilian politicians from both the UDSG and BDG, such as Paul Gondjout.
Aubame was unaware of the coup until the French ambassador to Gabon, Paul Cousseran, called him on the telephone roughly a half hour after sunrise. Cousseran, meanwhile, was awoken by the noisy streets and checked to see what was happening. Aubame replied that he was to find out why there was "no government", as Cousseran never directly mentioned a coup. However, about midway through the morning an automobile carrying the revolutionary committee arrived at Aubame's residence and drove him to the governmental offices, where he had been named president.
Second Lieutenant Ndo Edou gave instructions to transfer M'ba to Ndjolé, Aubame's electoral stronghold. However, due to heavy rain, the deposed president and his captors took shelter in an unknown village. The next morning they decided to take him over the easier road to Lambaréné. Several hours later, they returned to Libreville. The new head of government quickly contacted French ambassador Paul Cousseran, to assure him that the property of foreign nationals would be protected and to ask him to prevent any French military intervention.
In Paris, French president Charles de Gaulle decided otherwise. Moreover, under his regime, Europeans enjoyed particularly friendly treatment. which was ironically signed by Aubame in his stint as Foreign Minister. Intervention could not commence without a formal request to the Head of State of Gabon. Over the course of the operation, one French soldier was killed, while 15 to 25 died on the Gabonese side. though were eventually discovered. In August, the trial of the military rebels and provisional government was opened in Lambaréné. A "state of precations" was enacted, which decreed that the local government maintained surveillance over suspected troublemakers and, if necessary, order a curfew. Special permits were required to travel through the town. The trial was held in a school building overlooking the Ogooue River, near Albert Schweitzer's hospital. Space was limited, so there was no representative section of the public. One needed a permit to witness the trial, and family members were restricted to one each. Press coverage was limited, and journalists were only allowed if they were representing a high-profile news agency. In addition, there were restrictions on the defence of the accused.
The prosecution called 64 witnesses to the trial. Aubame affirmed his position that he did not participate in its planning. According to him, he formed the provisional government in a constitutional manner, at the request of some "putschists". He stated that the French intervention was an illegal act of interference, an assertion that Gondjout and Jean Mare Ekoh, a former education minister, shared. Aubame was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor and 10 years of exile on a remote island off Settecama, down the coast of Gabon, as were most criminals of the case. He was not particularly popular during his political career, though according to Time, his arrest "ballooned him to heroic proportions in the eyes of the aroused public". While serving his 10 years of labor, he was beaten regularly by prison guards. Besides Aubame, M'ba imprisoned more than 150 of his opponents, most of whom were sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. The actor and the doctor were given 10 years of imprisonment each. While appealing for peace on 18 February, he pledged "no pardon or pity" to his enemies, but rather "total punishment". The French journalist Pierre Péan said that Aubame's training "as a practicing Catholic and a customs official helped to make him an integrated man, one of whom political power was not an end in itself."
Awards and decorations
- Médaille de la Résistance