Washington - United States President Barack Obama met Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Thursday, as officials said it would be naive to expect him to avoid leaders with questionable human rights records.
Bongo's visit to the United States has been accompanied by stories in the US media alleging his administration is steeped in corruption, as well as complaints by Gabon opposition figures that he is little more than a dictator.
Obama welcomed Bongo to the Oval Office and news photographers were allowed in to take pictures, but reporters were not admitted.
The White House said that Bongo's government had taken some steps towards reform, and reiterated before the talks on Thursday that Obama had clear diplomatic goals for the meeting.
“It's a little naive to believe that the president of the United States should not meet with leaders who don't, you know, meet all the standards that we would have for perfect governance,” Obama's spokesperson Jay Carney said.
Carney noted that Gabon had made a number of “very significant” and “courageous” recent votes at the United Nations, on issues including Iran, Libya and the Ivory Coast.
He also noted that the West African nation currently holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council.
“President Bongo has made a number of reforms in Gabon, and Gabon is playing an increasingly important role... as a regional and global leader,” he said.
Carney also argued that the State Department's annual report on human rights had noted some progress by Gabon.
“We will continue to push, as an administration, (and) the president himself, for further progress on these issues.”
In Libreville this week, an aide to Bongo had described the meeting with Obama as an important sign of diplomatic recognition for the Gabonese leader.
But Zacharie Myboto, the president of Gabon's National Union, the top opposition party, called on Obama to tell Bongo that Gabon should respect constitutional guarantees of multi-party democracy.
Gabonese activists opposed to Bongo's rule say his administration is “dictatorial” and corrupt and exists to enrich elite sectors of society while much of the country wallows in extreme poverty.
Bongo took power in 2009 after a disputed election following the death of his father - longtime leader Omar Bongo. - Sapa-AFP