Rawiri was born in western Gabon. He became a prominent government official in 1967 when President Omar Bongo took office,[1] with Bongo and Rawiri becoming close friends. Rawiri served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1971 to 1974;[2] as of 1981, he was First Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Transport and the Merchant Marine.[3] In 1997, when the Senate was established, he became its President.[1] He was unanimously re-elected as President of the Senate on 26 February 2003,[4] remaining in that post until his death. He died in April 2006 at a hospital in Paris, France.[1]
At the time of his death, Rawiri was Co-President of the Africa Caribbean Pacific – European Union (ACP–EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly.[5]
Bongo declared seven days of mourning for Rawiri, beginning on 10 April 2006. Bongo said that Rawiri had been "more than a brother, a parent" to him, describing him as an unprecedented individual in the country's history.[1]
His daughter, Angèle Rawiri, was a well-known novelist.
After Rawiri's death, the Georges Rawiri House, intended to serve as the headquarters of the RTG1 television channel, was built with Chinese assistance and inaugurated on 1 December 2007.[6]
