Léon M'ba

Gabriel Léon M'ba (February 9, 1902 in Libreville - November 28, 1967 in Paris) was the first President of Gabon (1960 - 1967). The surname is also written 'M'Ba' and 'Mba'.
He was a member of the Fang people ethnic group. He was prime minister from May 21, 1957 to February 21, 1961 and became president upon independence from France on August 17, 1960. He was briefly toppled by a military coup d'etat in February 1964, and Jean-Hilaire Aubame was installed as president, but was restored within days through French intervention.
M'ba was reelected in March 1967, but died in November of that year and was succeeded by his vice president, Albert-Bernard Bongo (now Omar Bongo Ondimba).
Gabon's main airport, the Leon M'ba International Airport, is named for him. On November 27, 2007, President Bongo Ondimba attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a newly built Mausoleum for M'ba in Libreville.