Why many foreign companies are on the verge of leaving Gabon

IT IS OFTEN said of countries that their real wealth lies in their people. Few say this about Gabon. With 2m people and twice the land mass of England, it is among Africa’s richest countries, with a GDP per person of $8,300. Almost all of this comes from natural resources. Gabon exports oil, timber and palm oil. It is also the world’s third biggest producer of manganese, a metal used in producing stainless steel.

The wealth masks the fact that Gabon is one of Africa’s worst-run countries. It has had only two presidents since 1967. The first, Omar Bongo, was a flamboyant despot. He kept a pet tiger, hobnobbed with French presidents and turned the country into a one-party state. After he died in 2009 his son, Ali, took over. He won an election in 2016 that many believe was rigged (turnout in his home province was 99.93%, with 95% voting for the president).

Last year Ali (pictured) suffered a stroke and spent months in Morocco recovering. In January a few junior army officers tried, unsuccessfully, to mount a coup. Since then the state has shut down most news outlets and repeatedly blocked the internet. The economy is stagnant, largely thanks to growing corruption.

A big new scam has targeted foreign businesses in Libreville, the capital. It relies on a law inherited from France, the former colonial power, that...