Published on 03.11.2023 at 12:15 p.m. by Linda Manga
The National Council of Rites and Traditions of Gabon has given a 6-month ultimatum to foreign marabouts and their fetishes to leave Gabon.
It was during the enthronement of the president of the National Council of Rites and Traditions of Gabon that Junior Xavier Ndong Ndong gave this ultimatum. Indeed, as president of this council, he explains that foreign marabouts are in greater demand in Gabon than nationals. “ Certain personalities of the country have more faith in the mystical powers of Beninese marabouts and other foreigners than in their compatriots “ngangas” (traditional practitioners).He explained.
To remedy this situation, he therefore proposes repatriation of these practitioners. “From this day on, all those who practice fetishes, foreign marabouts on Gabonese territory, they have six months to stop what they are doing and leave Gabon.», he orders. In order to allow “local traditionalists to regain their rights.
Let us recall that in Gabon for several years, Gabonese rites and traditions have coexisted as best they can with foreign cultures, notably Beninese, Togolese and many others, arousing in most cases anger and indignation among populations for whom “these expatriates don’t respect anything” as pointed out by Xavier Ndong.
