Tag: Gabon

Gabon denies paying Messi millions to lay stadium stone

Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi (C) is given a tour during the start of construction of the Port-Gentil Stadium by the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba (R). (Pic: AFP)
Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi (C) is given a tour during the start of construction of the Port-Gentil Stadium by the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba (R). (Pic: AFP)

Gabon’s presidency on Tuesday denied paying four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi millions of dollars to lay the foundation stone for a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations stadium last weekend.

“The Republic of Gabon denies having paid, or even promised to pay, such a sum of money to the Argentinian international footballer Lionel Messi,” the presidency said in a statement.

The 28-year-old multi-millionaire – who turned up unshaven, in a torn pair of shorts – travelled to Port-Gentil, the nation’s economic capital, at the invitation of President Ali Bongo, according to the statement.

Messi “accompanied the head of state to Port-Gentil to lay the foundation stone for the town’s future stadium, in the perspective of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (which Gabon is hosting),” the statement added.

Messi’s presence at the event had caused controversy on social media, with many Gabonese questioning the cost of his visit to a country where over a third of the population live below the poverty line, despite the nation boasting oil riches.

The influential football weekly ‘France Football’ added fuel to the fire on Monday when it claimed the Barcelona maestro had received the 3.5 million euros ($3.8 million) for his appearance.

The controversy surrounding Messi’s visit comes hot on the heels of the striker’s second huge disappointment in a major final with the national side when they lost on penalties to hosts Chile in the Copa America on July 4, after losing to Germany in extra-time of last year’s World Cup final.

“Good move or a communications coup for Ali Bongo?”, one person wondered on Twitter, under a photograph of the Gabonese president at the wheel of a convertible Mercedes Jeep driving through the crowds in Libreville, with Messi beside him in the passenger seat.

Messi’s shabby look prompted a multitude of derisory remarks on Facebook with several Gabonese posting photos of themselves in shorts and flip-flops with a suitcase in one hand and a straw hat on their heads, pretending they were en route to South America.

“Today the Argentinian president is going to drive a taxi-bus and pick us up!” one remark read.

Another image circulating on social media that caught people’s imagination was a remodelled cover of the legendary comic book “Tintin in the Congo” renamed “Tintin Messi in the Gabon”, with the star footballer being driven by Bongo, and Tintin’s ever faithful dog ‘Snowy’ in the back seat.

Westerners head to Gabon for drug-fuelled ‘spiritual’ tourism

Some in Gabon believe the bitter iboga root comes from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. Others elsewhere have derided it as a dangerous drug.

Today a growing number of Westerners are travelling to the central African country to sample it themselves as part of an ancestral rite called Bwiti, one of Gabon’s official religions.

Among them is Remy Causse, who at 45 made the long journey from France in hopes that the ritual would help him to “see more clearly”.

Bwiti combines worship of ancient forest spirits with elements of Christianity. It is practiced regularly and involves ingesting the powerful psychoactive root, iboga, which has effects similar to LSD, mescaline or amphetamines.

“Iboga cleans the insides,” says Tatayo, a French-Gabonese spiritual guide who receives many of the Western “bandzi”, or candidates for initiation.

“The bandzi empties himself of everything bad that is buried inside before coming face to face with himself.”

European women rest in a temple after taking iboga during an initiation to the Bwiti rite in September 2005, in Libreville. (Pic: AFP)
European women rest in a temple after taking iboga during an initiation to the Bwiti rite in September 2005, in Libreville. (Pic: AFP)

But the deaths, deemed accidental, of two Western initiates saw the practice come under sharp scrutiny, notably in former colonial power France where health officials warned it was “hallucinogenic and highly toxic”.

A report by the Mission of Vigilance against Sectarian Abuses (Miviludes) from 2007 called Bwiti a form of cult ritual that is dangerous “both physically and mentally”.

Tatayo himself concedes that “you must be closely watched when you ingest iboga”.

Benefits and dangers
But Bwiti shamans like Tatayo believe that when they eat iboga, they are granted the power to see the future, heal the sick and speak with the dead.

Users say it helps them to break away from negative habits, and an extract from the root is now being used in Western medicine to treat drug addicts and alcoholics.

Like many foreigners before him, Causse turned to “Tatayo”, who is originally from southwest France, at his beachside concession next to the president’s quarters in Gabon’s capital Libreville.

Under the light of the torches, initiates, their faces painted white, intone traditional chants over the music of the Ngombi, a form of sacred harp, or the Mogongo, an instrument made of a chord strung across an arc that the musician strums with a pulsating rhythm.

Causse starts to eat the iboga, crushed into powder, which Tatayo feeds him by the spoonful until he is overcome by visions amid the deafening noise of singing and dancing by “escorts”. Lying on a mat, he seems to be sleeping as his spirit “roams”.

Ingested in high doses, iboga causes anxiety, extreme apprehension and hallucinations, which are enhanced by the darkness and music. Sometimes Causse rouses and begins to vomit.

The visions last all night, and it’s not until the early hours of the morning that Causse wakes up. Still groggy from the experience, he is unable to walk for several hours.

Despite being “a bit scared”, he said he was happy two days after shaking off the lethargy caused by the iboga root. After this he will bear the name “Moukoukou”, which means “spirits”.

“The ritual has given me an understanding that cannot be explained in words; it has answered many of my questions,” he says.

Few people in Gabon doubt the effectiveness of the iboga root, which is considered an important part of the country’s national heritage. The country’s first president was an initiate.

Outside the country, a dozen or so deaths have been reported in the United States and Europe among people who experimented with iboga, though the exact circumstances have not been clarified. Medical reports said the victims’ nervous systems and hearts appear to have been affected and the deaths generally occurred more than 20 hours after taking the root.

In Gabon, neither the French embassy nor the Gabonese health ministry would comment on the bwiti ritual, given that it involves a recognised religious practice and use of a product authorised in the country.

Yet despite the dangers and the high price that Westerners must pay for their new experiences – Causse paid $3 800 for his three-week journey – more and more are coming.

Tatayo says that he now receives around 20 to 25 new foreign initiates – mainly Europeans – a year.

Tiphaine Saint-Criq for AFP