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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Unrest in Gabon as Bongo poll win disputed |
| 2009-09-04 |
| [Mail and Globe] supporters in Gabon's capital on Thursday after Ali Ben Bongo, son of long-time ruler Omar Bongo, was declared the winner of a disputed presidential election. Protesters targeted facilities owned by French oil giant Total and United States oil field services firm Schlumberger in the Port Gentil oil hub, and ex-colonial power France's consulate there, the French Foreign Ministry said. But a Reuters witness touring the capital Libreville after anti-riot police had dispersed protesters said its streets were largely deserted, in what could prove an early sign that former defence minister Ben Bongo was asserting his authority. "I want to be president of all the Gabonese," Ben Bongo (50) declared on his family television network TeleAfrica after the interior minister declared him victor of Sunday's poll with 47,1% of the vote. Ex-interior minister Andre Mba Obame scored 25,9% and Pierre Mamboundou, one of the few main Gabonese politicians with no ties to the Bongo family, scored 25,2%. Both had also declared victory before the results were known and immediately said they rejected the outcome. "We condemn these results. It is a constitutional coup d'état," said Richard Mombo, secretary general of Mamboundou's Union of Gabonese People (UPG) party. Mombo told Reuters by telephone that Mamboundou had been "seriously injured" in clashes with security forces in the capital earlier but gave no details of his condition. "This is just what happens in Africa," Angel Nzeg, a female opposition supporter in Libreville said of the chaos surrounding the poll announcement. "What do you want us to do?" she said. Ben Bongo's rivals accuse him of rigging the result to ensure a dynastic transfer of power from his father, who brought stability during nearly 42 years of rule but faced accusations he used petrodollars to enrich family and friends. |
| Posted by:Fred |