Travels in Brazzaville

Globalist.com correspondent Guy Pfeffermann muses on his travels in the Republic of Congo in a piece alliteratively entitled ' Birds and Bureaucrats of Brazzaville: Travels in the Congo.'

Obscenity quantified

An lawsuit has been filed in France against the heads of state of Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and Equatorial Guinea. The lawsuit alleges that the three dictators have money and property in France gained via corruption.

What's particularly interesting is some of the numbers cited in the lawsuit. It claims that...

-Gabon's Omar Bongo and his inner circle have 39 residences (most of which situated in Paris' chic 16th arrondissement). The world's longest serving president also has 70 bank accounts. Not bad for someone who's been formally earning a public servant's salary since 1960.

-The family of Congo-Brazzaville's strongman, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, is reported to have 24 apartments and 112 bank accounts in l'Hexagone.

-Equatorial Guinea's madman Teodoro Obiang Nguema is a pauper by comparison, with only an apartment and eight luxury cars discovered.

These numbers are only what they own in France alone and what's been able to be identified by the French authorities.