_#_Disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Equatorial Guinea
because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay
_#_Climate: tropical; always hot, humid
_#_Terrain: narrow coastal plain; hilly interior; savanna in east and
south
_#_Natural resources: crude oil, manganese, uranium, gold, timber,
iron ore
_#_Land use: arable land 1%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures
18%; forest and woodland 78%; other 2%
_#_Environment: deforestation
_*_People
_#_Population: 1,079,980 (July 1991), growth rate 1.4% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 104 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 51 years male, 56 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 4.0 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun--Gabonese (sing., pl.); adjective--Gabonese
_#_Ethnic divisions: about 40 Bantu tribes, including four major
tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Bapounou, Bateke); about 100,000
expatriate Africans and Europeans, including 27,000 French
_#_Religion: Christian 55-75%, Muslim less than 1%, remainder animist
_#_Language: French (official), Fang, Myene, Bateke, Bapounou/Eschira,
Bandjabi
_#_Literacy: 61% (male 74%, female 48%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
_#_Labor force: 120,000 salaried; agriculture 65.0%, industry and
commerce 30.0%, services 2.5%, government 2.5%; 58% of population of
working age (1983)
_#_Organized labor: there are 38,000 members of the national trade
union, the Gabonese Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA)
_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Gabonese Republic
_#_Type: republic; multiparty presidential regime (opposition parties
legalized 1990)
_#_Capital: Libreville
_#_Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue,
Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooue-Ivindo, Ogooue-Lolo,
Ogooue-Maritime, Woleu-Ntem
_#_Independence: 17 August 1960 (from France)
_#_Constitution: 21 February 1961, revised 15 April 1975
_#_Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law;
judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the
Supreme Court; compulsory ICJ jurisdiction not accepted
_#_National holiday: Renovation Day (Gabonese Democratic Party
established), 12 March (1968)
_#_Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet
_#_Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Assemblee
Nationale)
_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Cour Supreme)
_#_Leaders:
Chief of State--President El Hadj Omar BONGO (since 2 December
1967);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Casimir OYE-MBA (since 3
May 1990)
_#_Political parties and leaders: Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG,
former sole party), El Hadj Omar BONGO, president;
National Recovery Movement-Lumberjacks (Morena-Bucherons);
Gabonese Party for Progress (PGP);
National Recovery Movement (Morena-Original);
Association for Socialism in Gabon (APSG);
Gabonese Socialist Union (USG);
Circle for Renewal and Progress (CRP);
Union for Democracy and Development (UDD)
_#_Suffrage: universal at age 21
_#_Elections:
President--last held on 9 November 1986 (next to be held
November 1993);
results--President Omar BONGO was reelected without opposition;
National Assembly--last held on 28 October 1990 (next to be
held by February 1992);
results--percent of vote NA;
seats--(120 total, 111 elected) PDG 62, National Recovery
Movement-Lumberjacks (Morena-Bucherons) 19, PGP 18, National Recovery
Movement (Morena-Original) 7, ASPG 6, USG 4, CRP 1, independent 3
_#_Communists: no organized party; probably some Communist
sympathizers
_#_Member of: ACCT, ACP, AfDB, BDEAC, CCC, CEEAC, ECA, FAO, FZ, G-24,
G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO,
INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS (associate), NAM,
OAU, OIC, OPEC, UDEAC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO,
WMO, WTO
_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador-designate Alexandre
SAMBAT; Chancery at 2034 20th Street NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone
(202) 797-1000;
US--Ambassador Keith L. WAUCHOPE; Embassy at Boulevard de la Mer,
Libreville (mailing address is B. P. 4000, Libreville); telephone 762003
or 762004, 743492
_#_Flag: three equal horizontal bands of green (top), yellow, and blue
_*_Economy
_#_Overview: The economy, dependent on timber and manganese until
the early 1970s, is now dominated by the oil sector. During the period
1981-85 oil accounted for about 46% of GDP, 83% of export earnings, and
65% of government revenues on average. The high oil prices of the early
1980s contributed to a substantial increase in per capita income,
stimulated domestic demand, reinforced migration from rural to urban
areas, and raised the level of real wages to among the highest in
Sub-Saharan Africa. The three-year slide of Gabon's economy, which
began with falling oil prices in 1985, was reversed in 1989 because of a
near doubling of oil prices over their 1988 lows. In 1990 the economy
continued to grow, but debt servicing problems are hindering economic
advancement. The agricultural and industrial sectors are relatively
underdeveloped, except for oil.
_#_GDP: $3.3 billion, per capita $3,090; real growth rate 13% (1990
est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3% (1989 est.)
_#_Unemployment rate: NA%
_#_Budget: revenues $1.1 billion; expenditures $1.5 billion,
including capital expenditures of $277 million (1990 est.)
_#_Exports: $1.16 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--crude oil 70%, manganese 11%, wood 12%, uranium 6%;
partners--France 53%, US 22%, FRG, Japan
_#_Imports: $0.78 billion (c.i.f., 1989);
commodities--foodstuffs, chemical products, petroleum products,
construction materials, manufactures, machinery;
partners--France 48%, US 2.6%, FRG, Japan, UK
_#_External debt: $3.4 billion (December 1990 est.)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate - 10% (1988 est.)
_#_Electricity: 310,000 kW capacity; 980 million kWh produced,
920 kWh per capita (1989)
_#_Industries: petroleum, food and beverages, timber, cement
plywood, textiles, mining--manganese, uranium, gold)
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 10% of GDP (including fishing and
forestry); cash crops--cocoa, coffee, palm oil; livestock not developed;
importer of food; small fishing operations provide a catch of about
20,000 metric tons; okoume (a tropical softwood) is the most important
timber product
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $66
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $1.9 billion; Communist countries (1970-89), $27 million
_#_Currency: Communaute Financiere Africaine franc
(plural--francs); 1 CFA franc (CFAF) = 100 centimes
_#_Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (CFAF)
per US$1--253.32 (December 1990), 171.26 (1990), 319.01 (1989), 297.85
(1988), 300.54 (1987), 346.30 (1986), 449.26 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: calendar year
_*_Communications
_#_Railroads: 649 km 1.437-meter standard-gauge single track
(Transgabonese Railroad)
_#_Highways: 7,500 km total; 560 km paved, 960 km laterite, 5,980 km
earth
_#_Inland waterways: 1,600 km perennially navigable
_#_Pipelines: crude oil, 270 km; refined products, 14 km
_#_Ports: Owendo, Port-Gentil, Libreville
_#_Merchant marine: 2 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 18,563
GRT/25,330 DWT
_#_Civil air: 11 major transport aircraft
_#_Airports: 73 total, 61 usable; 10 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 22 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: adequate system of open-wire, radio relay,
tropospheric scatter links and radiocommunication stations; 13,800
telephones; stations--6 AM, 6 FM, 8 TV; satellite earth stations--2
Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 12 domestic satellite
_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Presidential Guard, paramilitary
Gendarmerie, National Police
_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 266,472; 133,648 fit for
military service; 9,634 reach military age (20) annually
_#_Defense expenditures: $102 million, 3.2% of GDP (1990 est.)
_%_
_@_The Gambia
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 11,300 km2; land area: 10,000 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of Delaware
_#_Land boundary: 740 km with Senegal
_#_Coastline: 80 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 18 nm;
Continental shelf: not specific;
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;