Gendarmerie Nationale

The National Gendarmerie is a military force under the authority of the President of the Republic, Supreme Chief of the armed forces, and the Minister of National Defense. It is an integral part of the defence and security forces. At a time of globalization, the creation of the OAU and of CEMAC, leading to the free movement of people and goods, as a result, the increase in criminality of any kind.

The Gabonese Gendarmerie must take the height to meet its fundamental mission, which is to ensure the safety of people and property throughout the territory. This requires better training of personnel, substantial material and staffing to improve the living conditions of soldiers. The higher courts expect a lot from the National Gendarmerie, which must fulfil his role with dignity and responsibility.

If the establishment of the colony of Gabon back to 1845, until 1929, which is more than four twenty years, that a detachment of mounted police colonial is assigned to our territory by the General Government of the French Equatorial Africa, sitting, since its inception in 1910 (Decree of 15 January 1910) in Brazzaville. March 10 to April 1, 1960 saw drafting of the trial verbal No. 12 establishing the training of the Gendarmerie of Gabon company. However, in 1949 the section of Gendarmerie and the Central Portion of the Gabon regional Guard Brigade passes under the command of Captain DECLOQUEMENT, first officer to order the body on our territory. Decrees No. 01253 / PR of 27 April 1982 and no. 091/PR. 14 January 1983. Regulating the Organization of the National Gendarmerie Decree No. 000345/PR. MDNACSP. March 23, 1988, on the staff of the National Gendarmerie special status.

The National Gendarmerie main tasks:

• to defend territory
• to ensure public safety
• to ensure the maintenance of order and the enforcement of laws and regulations,
• To ensure the direct action of the judicial, administrative and military police.

A continuous, preventive and repressive surveillance is the essence of his service. The competence and action practice without restriction throughout the national territory, as well as the armed forces. Due to the nature of its service, the National Gendarmerie may have to act for the benefit of the different ministries, under the laws and regulations providing for its intervention.

Controlling the flow of illegal immigrants (including trafficking victims) and goods across Gabon's extensive maritime and land borders, with the Republic of Congo, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, poses a significant challenge for Gabon's non-military security apparatus. Likewise, local crime is on the rise but generally limited to street crimes in high crime areas and non-confrontational burglaries committed primarily at night. Recent reporting also indicates that Gabon might be seeing an increase in drug trafficking (cocaine and marijuana) through its sea port at Port Gentil.

Gabon's non-military sector's capabilities to effectively respond to these challenges is hampered due to corruption, lack of resources and training, and manpower issues. Specifically, law enforcement entities are generally ineffective at deterring crime. Response to alarms or emergency calls is often too slow (15 minutes or longer) to disrupt burglaries or invasive crimes. Police have a mediocre record in apprehending suspects after arrest. Communication and information sharing between the two major law enforcement agencies, the Gabon National Police (GNP) and the Gabon National Gendarmerie (GNG), had not been fully established.