Supporters of Gabon opposition candidate Jean Ping have clashed with security forces after President Ali Bongo was declared the victor of Saturday’s presidential election.
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Yields on Gabonese Eurobonds surged the most in nearly seven months as violence erupted in the capital, Libreville, after electoral authorities announced President Ali Bongo had narrowly won re-election.
Gabon’s presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate’s party headquarters overnight, killing one person and injuring at least 20 following protests against the re-election of this oil-rich Central African country’s president, opposition representatives said Thursday.
“Within the framework of a political process, there’s no room for violence”, Ayrault said in a written statement.
Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya said on Wednesday that Bongo had obtained 49.80% of Saturday’s vote, beating rival candidate, Ping who received 48.23%.
“We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger”.
France, the United States and the European Union urged calm late on Wednesday and called on authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for greater transparency, while the United Nations also urged restraint.
Scenes of pillaging were reported from outlying districts and telephone and internet communications were cut.
Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years.
The U.S. also urged “all security forces to act with both restraint and respect for the human rights of all Gabonese citizens”.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he called “on all political leaders to address their differences peacefully and to address any disputes they may have through existing constitutional and legal channels”.
Ping said two people were killed and 19 hurt in a raid against his headquarters early Thursday, and the national police chief told AFP that more than 200 people had been arrested across the city for looting.
It was not immediately clear where Ping – a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official who had earlier declared himself the poll victor – had taken refuge. “They (the worldwide community) should come and help us against the clan (of Bongo)”, Ping told AFP.
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An EU observer mission criticized a “lack of transparency” among institutions running the election and said Bongo had benefited from preferential access to money and the media.
