Georges Rawiri

Georges Rawiri 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, with Bongo and Rawiri becoming close friends. Rawiri served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1974; as of 1981, he was First Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Transport and the Merchant Marine. In 1997, when the Senate was established, he became its President. He was unanimously re-elected as President of the Senate on 26 February 2003, remaining in that post until his death. He died in April 2006 at a hospital in Paris, France.
At the time of his death, Rawiri was Co-President of the Africa Caribbean Pacific – European Union (ACP–EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
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.
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.