A Survey of Central African National Honours I: Orders, Medals, and Decorations of Gabon
by Mike Grater
Born of a passion for modern African awards (which I share!) that was fed through military/diplomatic service in Africa, Grater's first foray into print provides an impressive survey of modern Gabonese awards. Setting the scene, there's a map and a history of the country from 1959 as the new nation began the journey to independence from France. Nominally democratic and maintaining close links with France, a succession of Presidents stamped their mark, notably Omar Bongo with an unprecedented rule of over 41 years being succeeded on his death by his son Ali Bongo Ondimba. His ill-health and a contested election in which doubts were cast of the validity of his victory led to a military coup and the assumption of power by General Brice Oligui Nguema in 2023. He promised an election in May 2025 and won it by a landslide, polling some 95% of votes.
On to awards... starting with the newly formed Order of the Liberation of 30 August 2023, instituted on 31 July 2024 and awarded to individuals and groups who aided in the coup bringing Nguema to power and in the ensuing transitional period. It comes in three classes, Nguema having awarded himself the Grand Cross as well as a gold Collar that serves as the insignia of the Grand Master of the order and appears to have replaced the collar of the Order of the Equatorial Star as the presidential badge of office. Naturally, it's hard to find good images of such a recently-established order but Grater has found good images of the collar in wear, along with the Grand Cross sash and star. The other classes are Commander and Knight. Next up is the aforementioned Order of the Equatorial Star which is a five-class order in the French style dating back to 1959 and it is well illustrated and described here. The other orders listed, described, and illustrated here are the Military Order of the Black Panther (2010), the now-defunct Order of Friendship (1960-1971), the five-class Order of National Merit that replaced it, and three orders for merit in specific fields that are formed in the French style of Commander, Officer, and Knight - these are awarded for Education, Agricultural, and Maritime Merit.
Next comes an array of medals starting with the Military Medal and followed by a series of Medals of Honour for various branches of military service, gendarmes and police, customs, labour, public works, and post and telecommunications. Again, the French influence is strong, particularly as French is the official language and features in inscriptions on the insignia. These are followed by a collection of decorations, awarded for outstanding service, courage, or dedication to duty. There are medals for the armed forces, police, and one to recognise mothers of large families. Throughout, all these awards are described in detail and mostly well illustrated with large colour images (some have been enlarged from rather small ones, but with small less-studied countries, you have to make do with what you can find).
The final section consists of a magnificent collection of the original laws and decrees establishing almost all of these orders, medals, and decorations, a real treasure trove towards understanding them. They are all in the original French, which may be a bit intimidating if you do not read it, but they are fascinating to pick through.
A self-published "print on demand" book, it packs a lot in, with just a few oddities in layout and only one glaring error, where the Order of the Equatorial Star is described as being awarded for exceptional services to Cameroon... I think the wrong country name crept in. Easily fixed when the book is updated.
Overall, a fine work with a lot of information gathered together that is otherwise scattered all over the place. Looking forwards to the next one in the series...
You can get a copy from Amazon USA or Amazon UK.
Page last updated: 2 August 2025