Gabon group urges France to break with past

LIBREVILLE (AFP) - A Gabonese civil society group close to the opposition on Wednesday urged the French administration to give bilateral ties a fresh start ahead of a visit to Paris by President Ali Bongo.

In a letter to French President Francois Hollande, the "Enough is Enough" group called for an end to what it said was the collusion over occult interests that has characterised relations between France and oil-rich Gabon for decades.

"We are wondering whether you will bring an end... to France's policies, which have for two centuries now been tearing up our great history book," the group said.

"Your election was welcomed with cheers in Gabon," the group said, urging Hollande not to disappoint the Gabonese people's expectation for a new relationship with the former colonial power.

Ali Bongo is expected to meet Hollande on Thursday, as part of a trip the presidency in Libreville said was aimed at "strengthening cooperation" in a climate "free of any suspicion".

Bongo was elected in 2009, succeeding his father Omar, who died earlier that year after 42 years in power.

"Enough is Enough" charged Ali Bongo was "elected by Francafrique", a term coined to designate the neocolonialist networks that endured in many former French colonies and are epitomised by the Bongo family's hereditary rule over sub-Saharan Africa's fourth oil producer.