GABON
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LAND
264,180 km2; 75% forested, 15% savanna, 9% urban and wasteland, less than 1% cultivated
Land boundaries: 2,422 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 100 nm; fishing, 150 nm
Coastline: 885 km
PEOPLE
Population: 662,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.3%
'Nationality: noun—Gabonese (sing., pl.); adjective—Gabonese
Ethnic divisions: about 40 Bantu tribes, including 4 major tribal groupings (Fang, Eshira, Mbede, Okande); about 100,000 expatriate Africans and Europeans, including 20,000 French
Religion: 55% to 75% Christian, less than 1% Muslim, remainder animist
Language: French official language and medium of instruction in schools; Fang is a major vernacular language
Literacy: government claims more than 80% of school age children in school, but literacy rate is substantially below this figure—20%
Labor force: about 280,000 of whom 98,000 are wage earners in the modern sector (late 1979)
Organized labor: there are 38,000 members of the national trade union, the Gabonese Trade Union Confederation (COSYGA)
GOVERNMENT
Official name: Gabonese Republic
Type: republic; one-party presidential regime since 1964
Capital: Libreville
Political subdivisions: nine provinces subdivided into 36 prefectures
Legal system: based on French civil law system and customary law; constitution adopted 1961; judicial review of legislative acts in Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court; legal education at Center of Higher and Legal Studies at Libreville; compulsory ICJ jurisdiction not accepted
National holiday: 12 March, 17 August
Branches: power centralized in President, elected by universal suffrage for seven-year term; unicameral 93-member National Assembly (including nine members chosen by Omar Bongo) has limited powers; constitution amended in 1979 so that Assembly deputies will serve five-year terms; independent judiciary
Government leader: President El Hadj Omar BONGO
Suffrage: universal over age 18
Elections: Presidential election last held December 1979, next presidential election scheduled for 1986; parliamentary election last held February 1980, next election scheduled for 1985; constitutional change separates dates for presidential and parliamentary elections
Political parties and leaders: Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) led by President Bongo is only legal party
Communists: no organized party; probably some Communist sympathizers
Member of: AFDB, Conference of East and Central African States, BDECA (Central African Development Bank), EAMA, EIB (associate), FAO, G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMCO, IMF, IPU, ISCON, ITU, NAM, OAB (African Wood Organization), OAU, OPEC, UDEAC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
ECONOMY
GDP: $3.8 billion (1980), $6,333 per capita; 7.1% annual growth rate (1971-81)
Agriculture: commercial—cocoa, coffee, wood, palm oil, rice; main food crops—bananas, manioc, peanuts, root crops; imports food
Fishing: catch 10,000 metric tons (excluding shellfish) (1978)
Major industries: petroleum production, sawmills, petroleum refinery; mining of increasing importance; major minerals—manganese, uranium, iron (not produced)
Electric power: 175,400 kW capacity (1980); 564 million kWh produced (1980), 869 kWh per capita
Exports: $1,770 million (f.o.b., 1979); crude petroleum, wood and wood products, minerals (manganese, uranium concentrates, gold), coffee
Imports: $615 million (f.o.b., 1979); excluding UDEAC trade; mining, roadbuilding machinery, electrical equipment, transport vehicles, foodstuffs, textiles
Major trade partners: France, US, West Germany, and Curacao
