Outel Bono

Outel Bono (1934 – 26 August 1973) was a Chadian medical doctor and politician.^[1]

He was medical director of the hospital in Chad's capital, Fort-Lamy (now N'Djamena), in 1963 when he was arrested for plotting against the government of President François Tombalbaye. Condemned to death, his sentence was commuted after a vigorous campaign led by the French Communist Party. He was reprieved in 1965 and was able to resume his medical career.

In 1969 Bono was again arrested and condemned to forced labour; but Tombalbaye released him early and appointed him Director (i.e. chief civil servant) of the Chadian Health Ministry, until, in 1972, he left Chad and went to Paris, where he joined the exiled political opposition. He had organised a press conference to launch a new political party, the Mouvement Démocratique de Rénovation Tchadienne (MDRT), but two days before, on 26 August 1973, Outel Bono was assassinated in Paris. He was killed by two shots from a revolver as he climbed into his car.

The police investigation failed to find the culprit and the file was closed in 1982 by the investigating magistrate. There were suspicions that both the French secret service and the Chadian government were involved. A journalist identified the killer as a French agent who had previously worked for President Bokassa of the Central African Republic, a certain Jacques Bocquel, possibly through orders from Camille Gourvenec, a French aide of President Tombalbaye.

Bono's French wife, Nadine, tried to have the case reopened but her appeal was rejected and she was forced to pay legal costs.

His case has been cited as an example of the web of secret links between powerful people in France and its former African colonies, for which the author François-Xavier Verschave coined the term Françafrique in 1994.

References

^ "Outel Bono, l'opposant tchadien assassiné à Paris en 1973 (1/2)". France 24 (in French). 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-27. [Outel Bono arrived in France in 1945 at the age of 11. He followed a brilliant secondary education from Bordeaux to Périgueux, via Cahors. It was here, in 1952, that he met Nadine Dauch. Seven years later, she married him and became Nadine Bono. They had three children: Mariame, Daimane and Tarik. Meanwhile, in 1953, he was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine in Toulouse. Outel soon became an active member of the Federation of Black African Students in France (FEANF). This association was as much a student union, which could help obtain a grant or accommodation, as it was a political think-tank on the future of Africa.]

François-Xavier Verschave, La Françafrique - Le plus long scandale de la République, Stock, pages 155-172

External links

The killing of Outel Bono (in French)
Chad: Fall of the Tombalbaye Government

[1] "Outel Bono, l'opposant tchadien assassiné à Paris en 1973 (1/2)". France 24 (in French). 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-27. [Outel Bono arrived in France in 1945 at the age of 11. He followed a brilliant secondary education from Bordeaux to Périgueux, via Cahors. It was here, in 1952, that he met Nadine Dauch. Seven years later, she married him and became Nadine Bono. They had three children: Mariame, Daimane and Tarik. Meanwhile, in 1953, he was admitted to the Faculty of Medicine in Toulouse. Outel soon became an active member of the Federation of Black African Students in France (FEANF). This association was as much a student union, which could help obtain a grant or accommodation, as it was a political think-tank on the future of Africa.]

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