Gabon and Messi have denied reports that the soccer star was paid €3.5m (£2.5m) by the Bongo family for the visit, which was broadcast on state television and used, according to the HRF, as “internal propaganda”. Messi helped lay one of the first stones for a planned 40,000-capacity stadium in the second biggest city, Port-Gentil and was criticised by an opposition party for turning up in denim shorts and a T-shirt. The 28-year-old Argentinian also visited a state-owned hospital and the opening of a restaurant owned by Bongo’s family, where the president said: “When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, I met Messi who had told me that he would come to visit me in Libreville. It’s a promise he made me. He is a man of honour who just kept his word.” The HRF alleges that the Bongo family have used the former French colony as their “feudal state” for decades, systematically looting its vast natural resources, oil wealth and rainforests. The family deny this. About a third of Gabon’s population of 1.5 million still lives in poverty but the World Bank categorises it as an upper-middle income country with a gross national income per capita of more than $10,000 (£6,400).
Lionel Messi accused of undermining children's rights work with Gabon visit
Footballer Lionel Messi has been accused by activists of endorsing a central African “dictatorship” that has failed to halt the ritual murder of children. The Barcelona striker and children’s rights advocate visited Gabon last month to take part in a ceremony at one of the venues for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. The US-based Human Rights Foundation said that Messi “displayed enthusiastic support” for Ali Bongo, who was elected president of Gabon in 2009 in polls that triggered days of rioting and opposition complaints of fraud. He succeeded his father Omar Bongo, who had a tight grip on power in the oil-rich state from 1967 until his death nearly 42 years later. Thor Halvorssen, president of the HRF, said: “In providing PR services to Gabon’s Bongo family, Lionel Messi has seriously undermined the credibility of his own charitable foundation.” Messi serves as a Unicef ambassador to promote youth education. Halvorssen claimed that, by taking part in the trip, the footballer had “endorsed a kleptocratic regime that refuses to investigate the ritual murder of children in Gabon”.Gabon and Messi have denied reports that the soccer star was paid €3.5m (£2.5m) by the Bongo family for the visit, which was broadcast on state television and used, according to the HRF, as “internal propaganda”. Messi helped lay one of the first stones for a planned 40,000-capacity stadium in the second biggest city, Port-Gentil and was criticised by an opposition party for turning up in denim shorts and a T-shirt. The 28-year-old Argentinian also visited a state-owned hospital and the opening of a restaurant owned by Bongo’s family, where the president said: “When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, I met Messi who had told me that he would come to visit me in Libreville. It’s a promise he made me. He is a man of honour who just kept his word.” The HRF alleges that the Bongo family have used the former French colony as their “feudal state” for decades, systematically looting its vast natural resources, oil wealth and rainforests. The family deny this. About a third of Gabon’s population of 1.5 million still lives in poverty but the World Bank categorises it as an upper-middle income country with a gross national income per capita of more than $10,000 (£6,400).
Gabon and Messi have denied reports that the soccer star was paid €3.5m (£2.5m) by the Bongo family for the visit, which was broadcast on state television and used, according to the HRF, as “internal propaganda”. Messi helped lay one of the first stones for a planned 40,000-capacity stadium in the second biggest city, Port-Gentil and was criticised by an opposition party for turning up in denim shorts and a T-shirt. The 28-year-old Argentinian also visited a state-owned hospital and the opening of a restaurant owned by Bongo’s family, where the president said: “When I was in Barcelona a few years ago, I met Messi who had told me that he would come to visit me in Libreville. It’s a promise he made me. He is a man of honour who just kept his word.” The HRF alleges that the Bongo family have used the former French colony as their “feudal state” for decades, systematically looting its vast natural resources, oil wealth and rainforests. The family deny this. About a third of Gabon’s population of 1.5 million still lives in poverty but the World Bank categorises it as an upper-middle income country with a gross national income per capita of more than $10,000 (£6,400).
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