Georges Rawiri

Georges Rawiri
President of the Senate of Gabon
In office
February 1997 – 9 April 2006
PresidentOmar Bongo
Succeeded byLéonard Andjembé (interim)
Personal details
Born(1932-03-10)10 March 1932
Died9 April 2006(2006-04-09) (aged 74)
PartyGabonese Democratic Party

Georges Rawiri (10 March 1932 – 9 April 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 10 April 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, was 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 1 December 2007.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Gabonese senate speaker passes away in Paris", Xinhua (People's Daily Online), 10 April 2006.
  2. ^ "Foreign ministers E-K". Rulers.org. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
  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).