THE UFO ISSUE IN CENTRAL AFRICA(Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo): Introduction
(This is the introduction to my book ‘The UFO Question in Central Africa’ published on Amazon)
Introduction
It was the end of July 2022.
Gabonese singer Tita Nzebi and I were having a drink on the top floor of a newly-opened bar near the Place de la Bastille. We were chatting about our past concerts and our future plans. It wasn’t too hot yet and I had just finished a tour of several months in Paris and the provinces. Our conversation revolved mainly around music, difficulties of being an artist and our doubts. It was a rather banal conversation. Interesting but nothing weird.
She then asked me if I had any plans for August. I answered in a very spontaneous way (which surprised me myself, to be honest) : “I’m going with friends from the Cero-France association to Brest to meet leaders of ufological associations and possibly make some UAP sightings, particularly off the coast of the city.” She answered : “I knew you were involved in this subject, but not to this extent”. I had indeed once told her about the Cero France association, which brought together qualified psychologists and experiencers (or abductees), people who had not only witnessed UFO sightings but had also interacted with their occupants. A unique association in Europe (and perhaps in the world). The psychologists were not there to say whether or not the witness had seen aliens, or even been physically interacted with by them. They were there first and foremost to help the person put their experiences into words and integrate them into their daily lives so that they could move forward in life. Which, in the end, was the most important thing. Tita knew that I had testified in specialised programmes on the subject of abductions. I’m grateful to her for not making fun of me, for not laughing stupidly, for not taking the subject lightly or uttering a phrase like ‘UFOs don’t exist’. Over the last three years I’ve deliberately sorted out the people around me, to avoid unpleasant surprises and to avoid wasting my time. I’m not asking anyone to agree with what I say or believe in. I’m simply asking for respect.
Then I went on “But as you have lived in Gabon like me, have you heard our compatriots there talking about UFOs and extraterrestrials?”. Tita took the time to find the right words : “Basically, I wonder if what we call ‘aliens’ in Europe or the United States isn’t translated as “ghosts” or “spirits” in Gabon. What if we’re basically using different terms to talk about the same thing? “
Why hadn’t I thought about this possibility? The intellectual Jacques Vallée was reviled in the 1970s for suggesting that elves, fairies and spirits were a way of referring to exogenous intelligences in Europe before the era of the industrial revolutions. Why hadn’t I thought of transposing this hypothesis to the Gabonese context? Little by little I began to collect various archives on UFOs (or UAPs) in Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a complex task : there were very few reports of unusual sightings in this part of the world. Quite simply, it was as if Central Africa was simply spared the UFO question. Which led many Africans to think that “it was all an American thing”. Or a WASP thing.
Most regions of the world are represented in ufological literature : the American continent from north to south, Europe, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, North Africa (mention should be made of Gérard Lebat’s remarkable work on UFOs in Morocco), Southern Africa (through the magazine Ufo Afrinews, from 1988 to 2000). However, there are still regions that have not been the subject of any study and Central Africa is one of them.
I am not a ufologist, nor do I claim to be. The work that follows is about sociology and anthropology (I’m a former geography student, majoring in regional planning and sociology). It’s about seeing where Central Africa stands on the exogenous question in 2023. At a time when, whether we like it or not, we are witnessing a kind of paradigm shift that began at the end of 2017 when the New York Times revealed that the Pentagon had unofficially funded a UFO research programme. Disclosure began and accelerated this year, 2023, with the creation of AARO in the United States (initiated in 2022, an organisation that investigates UAPs), a 3-hour NASA conference on 30 May 2023 and the explosive testimony of whistleblower David Grusch, a former veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Add to this the work of scientist Garry Nolan, who recently admitted to having been visited by entities in his bedroom when he was a child, and scientist Avi Loeb, who went to the Pacific Ocean to recover fragments of a meteor he suspects to be artificial. We could also mention Jacques Sarfatti and Philippe Guillemant, who have put forward some pretty strong theoretical models of the multiverse (parallel dimensions).
African societies are sometimes accused of being behind on everything. Contemporary Gabonese and Congolese societies should not find themselves passive spectators of a generalised process of disclosure. Fortunately, we meet in these countries intellectuals living with the times, while at the same time being imbued with animist knowledge (which preceded the evangelisation associated with colonisation). They are so more open-minded than their French or German counterparts when it comes to tackling the question of exogenous intelligences that are neither animal nor vegetable, but rather superior to human beings. It’s a huge area of research that’s just waiting to open up. It’s a vertiginous field of research that can generate anxiety, which is understandable because we find ourselves in the situation of the laboratory monkey who has to analyse the attitudes of the person who locks him up, observes him, manipulates him. And sometimes kills him. And yet it’s research that is necessary.
Between October 2022 and June 2023, I interviewed a number of people, sometimes for a long time, particularly via Whatsapp. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for placing their trust in me. I have tried to transcribe their accounts as closely as possible. Some of their stories are simply edifying. Please note that it is not my intention to pass judgement on anyone’s statements, to explain what the witness really saw or to develop an argument pro or against the existence of exogenous intelligences. This is not the subject of the book. I would go further : I have chosen, given the current context, to start from the premise that these exogenous intelligences are there, anyway. It’s an assumption I’ve taken on board wholeheartedly, risking no doubt, and it’s reinforced by the fact that the people who agreed to testify have kept their stories to themselves for a long time (you’ll understand why…). They took the time to open up, to talk about events that sometimes shook them to the core. I’m thinking of this young man of Congolese origin who needed to drink alcohol to finish his story. I’m still a native Gabonese, having lived in Libreville for sixteen years, with a Gabonese father, from the Myènè ethnic group. I’ll make it clear : I am taking the liberty of not feeling obliged to give in to the completely misguided Cartesianism of French intellectuals, ufologists included. I don’t feel I have to pledge allegiance to a hexagonal way of thinking, which, it has to be said, has left France lagging behind on the UFO question; even though it is the country of birth of GEIPAN, the only organisation in the world for a long time dedicated to recording UAP sightings and even, to go even further, the country of birth of the only organisation in the world where psychologists accompany abductees, Cero France. Alas, the only country in the world where we have a journalist like Julien Pain… that’s the tragedy… Please accept my apologize for humour and for my slightly caricatured vision, because things are moving a little as I write these lines. I just want to clarify things : this book about Central Africa is written by someone from that region. France (my mother’s country) is only peripherally mentioned. I hope that this book will give rise to debates in Gabon and the two Congos. The future will tell. I have also deliberately chosen not to put forward my personal case. I think I’ve already said a lot about this in the specialist media.
As I was almost starting zero, I chose to interview people I knew to a greater or lesser extent, who then referred me to people I didn’t know, and so on. I wasn’t looking for a scoop at any price. I felt that if the person interviewed hadn’t seen anything, it was just as interesting as if they had. Some people speak openly. Others wished to remain anonymous, not just because of the stigma attached to the subject of UFOs, but rather because of their status as opponents of regimes regarded as authoritarian and entrenched. I told myself that if I already had two or free testimonies, it would be exceptional. I ended up with around fifteen testimonies! Some of them live between their region of origin and Europe. I’m well aware that there’s more to Central Africa than Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We should have covered Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad. This work is planned for a future volume. However, some African countries outside Central Africa are briefly mentioned. I have chosen to take things one step at a time.
Thank you for your attention
Jann Halexander