The adventurous life of an independence warrior

LIBREVILLE – A former fighter in Indochina, Colonel Pascal Moulopo became the first soldier to raise independent Gabon’s flag 50 years ago, but he also took part in the thrills and spills of a 1964 coup bid.

‘I enlisted in 1946 because I didn’t believe war existed. I wanted to see it with my own eyes,’ Moulopo, 84, told AFP.The army sent him to the Central African Republic and then Indochina, where he discovered the horrific side of war and ‘the dirty work, the jobs that the white soldiers didn’t want to do to keep their hands clean.’This consisted of ‘liquidating the Viets and their accomplices who were taken alive. At the end of each interrogation, when the interrogator was sure the prisoner was lying, Moulopo shot him at point blank range,’ according to Moulopo’s biography ‘Negre… jusque dans l’ame’ (‘Black … down to the soul’), written with the academic Daniel Franck Idiata.’The dead. I still think about them,’ Moulopo said, declining to say more.After a spell in Madagascar, he returned home in 1960. On August 17 1960, in Libreville’s Baraka military camp, it was he who lowered the French flag to raise the first Gabonese one.In 1964, he found himself in a completely different situation. Disgruntled soldiers carried out a coup attempt against the first Gabonese president, Leon Mba. A Gabonese former member of the French parliament in colonial times, Jean Hilaire Aubame, formed a new government.Arrested in his bed on the night of February 17, Mba was handed over to Moulopo, then a staff-sergeant, who was ordered to leave town with the head of state and return when the situation had become more stable. He was expected to take Mba to Ndjole, Aubame’s stronghold in the east.’In the car, the president seemed sad. He spoke little. Me, I told him, ‘Papa, with me you’re in no danger’,’ said Moulopo, who left Libreville for the interior of the densely forested central African country.On the road, he had to clear a fallen tree and then ran into a porcupine.’These were signs, miracles (to stop them reaching Ndjole),’ Moulopo believes. When he got to Bifoun, heavy rain blocked the road to Ndjole. ‘I decided to go to Lambarene’.Moulopo installed the president in a hotel. Several prominent people in the town, including Dr Albert Schweitzer, the 1952 winner of the Nobel peace prize, urged Moulopo to free the president.’Schweitzer came and asked to take him to his hospital. I refused. He left straight away. The president was my responsibility, I wanted only to turn him over to a superior officer.’During this time, the coup was foiled in Libreville and French paratroops jumped over the Lambarene region. Moulopo took the road back to the capital and was arrested on February 20 in Kango by a French military unit.Moulopo spent several weeks at Ndoumelebame, a sort of jail where he and other soldiers involved in the coup were ‘left without water, food and light,’ and then he was transferred to Libreville where he says he was severely beaten and partially lost his hearing.He was later pardoned by President Mba: ‘The president knew that I meant him no harm. If I had wanted to kill him, I could have done it on numerous occasions.’Moulopo then left the army, but in 1996 he founded the veterans’ Association of Former Fighters. ‘I’m proud to be Gabonese,’ he says, before adding, though he does not have dual nationality, ‘but I remain French.’-Nampa-AFP

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.

The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.