Venezuela's Chavez saddened by death of Gabon leader said a news story form AFP. Venezuela "stands in solidarity with the Gabonese people in this sad moment and sends its condolences to the family and those close to president Bongo," Chavez said in a statement. Gabon like Venezuela is a significant producer of oil. Gabon president Omar Bongo Ondimba came to power in 1967, which made him Africa's longest-serving leader or shall we said "dictator", even though wikipedia place him as a democratic elected leader, here is what Wikipedia has to said about Omar Bongo.

El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo , commonly known as Omar Bongo ) (30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was President of Gabon from 1967 to 2009. As a young official under President Leon M'ba in the 1960s, he rapidly rose to prominence and was given key responsibilities; in 1966, he became Vice-President , and he succeeded M'ba as President upon the latter's death in 1967. Bongo headed the single-party regime of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) until 1990, when multi-party politics was introduced. He was re-elected in multiparty presidential elections held in 1993, 1998, and 2005. Although he faced intense opposition to his rule in the early 1990s, he was eventually successful in consolidating power again; most of the major opposition leaders of the 1990s came to support him and were given high-ranking posts in the government.

During Bongo's long rule, ethnic tensions were subdued and Gabon was generally stable and peaceful. The country benefited from its oil wealth, although most of the population remained impoverished and Bongo and his associates were routinely accused of serious corruption. After Cuban President Fidel Castro stepped down in February 2008, Bongo became the world's longest-serving ruler, excluding monarchies.

However, the New Statesman place him as one of the world's top 10 dictators.

And the Economist had this to said back in 1990 " AFRICA knows worse dictators than President Omar Bongo of Gabon. He does not spend quite all the country's oil revenues on his army and his palaces. When one of his chief critics is murdered, there is some surprise that such a thing should happen, and some doubt whether it was done on presidential orders. But he was an embarrassment to his French patrons even before the latest bout of riots and killings. President Mitterrand's government has nevertheless sent an extra detachment of soldiers to join the French standing force that normally props up his regime. "

Petroleumworld News 06/09/09