Gabon’s opposition leader calls for international help after security raid on HDs
The leader of the opposition in Gabon, a country in Central Africa, has called for international help to protect the population following a raid by government forces on opposition headquarters in the capital, Libreville, and amid a dispute over presidential election results.
“We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger. They (the international community) should come and help us against the clan [of incumbent President Ali Bongo],” said Jean Ping, a former foreign minister and now the country’s opposition leader, early on Thursday.
Bongo, who has been in power since another disputed election in 2009, was on Wednesday officially declared the winner of the latest presidential election. Ping and his supporters have contested the results.
In his Thursday remarks, Ping said “everybody knows” that he was the real winner of the election, which was held last Saturday.
Pro-Ping protesters set ablaze the National Assembly building on Wednesday night, a few hours after Bongo was declared the president.
Protesters, mainly from poor neighborhoods, also clashed with riot police. The sound of gunfire crackled across the city and several people were reportedly wounded. The infuriated protesters were chanting “Ali must go.”
Referring to the raid on the opposition headquarters, the 73-year-old Ping said, “They attacked around 1:00 a.m. (0000 GMT). It is the republican guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground.”
He said two people had been killed during the attack and 19 were injured, “some of them very seriously.”
Ping was not inside the building at the time.
Reports say that security forces had besieged the building for at least one hour, firing tear gas canisters and live rounds at the premises.
Ping has accused the ruling party members of the electoral commission, known as Cenap, of having rigged turnout figures and votes in favor of Bongo in order to hand him a victory.
“In this election, we committed ourselves to liberating our country. And that is the choice that was clearly expressed by the Gabonese people,” Ping had said on Wednesday.
According to Cenap, the 57-year-old incumbent president won 49.80 percent of the Saturday votes, compared to the 48.23 percent garnered by Ping, marking a thin margin of only 5,594 votes of a total 627,805 registered voters.
The results, however, will stay “provisional” until they are approved by the constitutional court.
The poor African country had been ruled by Bongo’s father, Omar, for over four decades until 2009.
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