Clashes have broken out as hundreds of opposition activists converge near the Constitutional Court in Gabon’s capital after the government announced that the president has won re-election.
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They accused French officials of carrying on the old politics of “La Francafrique” – an intricate, shadowy web of diplomacy and commerce that for decades kept African presidents in its former colonies, like Bongo’s father, in power in exchange for privileged deals for French companies.
He continued: “They attacked around 1am”.
“Security forces surrounded the opposition headquarters overnight and stormed the building in the early hours of Thursday morning, killing two and injuring more than a dozen there”, Ping to AFP.
A supporter of Gabonese opposition leader Jean Ping, holding a flag of Gabon, faces riot policemen blocking the access to the electoral commission in Libreville on August 31, 2016, as part of a protest sparked after Gabon’s president Ali Bongo was declared victor of last weekend’s contested election. Flames and smoke rose in the night sky.
Government spokesman Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze confirmed the presidential guard operation on the opposition headquarters.
Opposition supporters greeted the election result with anger. The vote has extended the Bongo family’s rule by giving President Bongo another seven years in power.
Bongo won by just 5,594 votes.
Bongo won 49.80 percent of votes against 48.23 percent for Ping, on a turnout of 59.46 percent, according to results given region by region by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.
Bongo took power in 2009 on the death of his father, who had ruled for 42 years.
Ping had been a close ally of Omar Bongo, serving him in ministerial roles and having two children with his daughter, Pascaline, a former Gabonese Foreign Minister herself.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for calm and voiced concern over the clashes and arson, urging political leaders “to address their differences peacefully and to address any disputes they may have through existing constitutional and legal channels”.
Bongo’s allies are also furious about a statement from France’s ruling Socialist Party on Sunday declaring that early results showed Ping to be the victor.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an immediate end to violence.
Police also fired teargas in clashes with around 100 opposition supporters, according to a Reuters witness.
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The tiny nation has less than 2 million people and plays a significant role in Africa’s economy. As a result of its oil exports, the country has one of Africa’s highest per capita income at $8,300. But despite the economic prosperity, the Gabonese government is accused of appropriating the national income and failing to improve living conditions for the public.
