Georges Rawiri
President of the Senate of Gabon
In office
February 1997 – 9 April 2006
PresidentOmar Bongo
Succeeded byLéonard Andjembé (interim)
Personal details
Born10 March 1932
Died9 April 2006
Political partyGabonese Democratic Party

Georges Rawiri (March 10, 1932 – April 9, 2006[1]) was a Gabonese politician, diplomat and poet.

Biography

Rawiri was born in western Gabon. He became a prominent government official in 1967 when President Omar Bongo took office,[1] with Bongo and Rawiri becoming close friends. Rawiri served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1974;[2] as of 1981, he was First Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Transport and the Merchant Marine.[3] In 1997, when the Senate was established, he became its President.[1] He was unanimously re-elected as President of the Senate on 26 February 2003,[4] remaining in that post until his death. He died in April 2006 at a hospital in Paris, France.[1]

At the time of his death, Rawiri was Co-President of the Africa Caribbean Pacific - European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly.[5]

Bongo declared seven days of mourning for Rawiri, beginning on April 10, 2006. Bongo said that Rawiri had been "more than a brother, a parent" to him, describing him as an unprecedented individual in the country's history.[1]

His daughter, Angèle Rawiri, is a well-known novelist.

After Rawiri's death, the Georges Rawiri House, intended to serve as the headquarters of the RTG1 television channel, was built with Chinese assistance and inaugurated on December 1, 2007.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Gabonese senate speaker passes away in Paris", Xinhua (People's Daily Online), April 10, 2006.
  2. ^ "Foreign ministers E-K". Rulers.org. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  3. ^ "Apr 1982 - Cabinet Reorganizations - Repatriation of Cameroonian Nationals - Relations with France - Other Foreign Policy Developments - IMF Loan -Student UnrestForeign relationsEconomy", Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume 28, April, 1982 Gabon, Page 31426.
  4. ^ "Rawiri re-elected president of the Gabonese senate", Panapress, 26 February 2003.
  5. ^ Minutes of ACP-EU meeting in Vienna, June 2006.
  6. ^ "Gabon: Jean-Boniface Assélé fier du complexe audiovisuel « Maison Georges Rawiri »", Gabonews (bdpgabon.org), 15 August 2008 (in French).
Preceded byJean Rémy Ayouné Foreign Minister of Gabon 1971–1974 Succeeded byPaul Okoumba d'Okwatsegue
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