Government News: Top Stories

Unrest as dictator's son declared winner in Gabon

The Associated Press Translate This Article
3 September 2009

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) - The government on Thursday declared the eldest son of the late dictator Omar Bongo the winner of presidential elections, enraging opposition supporters who torched a French diplomatic mission.

A main opposition candidate went into hiding, nursing an injury he reportedly suffered when police fired tear gas canisters.

In Dakar, Senegal, Gabonese students pushed past the sole guard at the Gabonese Embassy. A loud explosion was followed by the sound of breaking glass. The students charged out as a huge plume of smoke rose from the two-story structure.

'We want change,' said one of the students. 'This election is a fraud.'

Even before the results of Sunday's election were announced on state TV, there was violence.

In Gabon's capital, Libreville, police fired tear gas at opposition demonstrators who had camped outside the electoral commission overnight, waiting to hear the outcome. The results had been expected Wednesday night but were delayed because the election commission disagreed on how to review province-by-province results.

Within hours of the announcement that Ali Bongo had won, opposition supporters attacked the French consulate in the oil hub of Port Gentil, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Libreville, setting the building alight and ransacking nearby shops, a local TV station reported.

The unrest is not likely to affect global oil prices, said Leo Drollas, chief economist at the London-based Center for Global Energy Studies, noting Gabon's small petroleum output. According to the U.S. Energy Administration, Gabon produces 247,000 barrels of oil a day, one-tenth of Nigeria's output.

Demonstrators' rage was directed at France because the former colonial ruler is widely believed to have propped up the Bongo regime. At the elder Bongo's funeral in June, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his predecessor Jacques Chirac were jeered. The dictator had squandered money on vanity projects like a marbled presidential palace and a little-used railroad instead of building roads and other infrastructure.

The demonstrators ransacked shops as they tore through Port Gentil's main market, carrying away refrigerators and TV sets. They also broke down the doors to the prison, liberating the prisoners, said Dianney Madztou, the editor-in-chief of local TV station Top Bendje.

Interior Minister Jean-Francois Ndongou said Bongo, the country's defense minister who campaigned from a private jet and plastered the capital with billboards, won with 41.7 percent of the vote.

The top two opposition leaders—Andre Mba Obame and Pierre Mamboundou—were nearly tied, receiving 25.8 and 25.2 percent of the vote respectively, Ndongou said. Obame owns a TV station, which lost its signal and was fired on earlier in the week.

Mamboundou called the election results 'a fraudulent farce' and insisted that results of individual polling stations showed he had around 40 percent of the vote, with Bongo snaring less than 30.

'It's not just a possibility of fraud. It's fraud pure and simple,' Mamboundou said late Wednesday when the results were supposed to have been announced by Ndongou. 'The Gabonese people do not want a dynasty. Forty-two years of President Bongo is enough. They want change.'

Mamboundou insisted that results of individual polling stations showed he had around 40 percent of the vote, with Bongo snaring less than 30 percent.

Louis-Gaston Mayila, head of a political party allied to Mamboundou, said the opposition leader was injured in the arm when police fired tear gas early Thursday outside the electoral commission and had gone into hiding.

Bongo is a son of dictator Omar Bongo, who ruled this African nation for 41 years.

Ali Bongo, 50, held senior posts for years in his father's Cabinet and was appointed foreign minister in 1989. Since 1999, he has been defense minister.

On Sunday, a television channel owned by Obame inexplicably lost its signal. The station borrowed equipment to broadcast the election results but around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, masked men opened fire with artillery on the station, damaging its satellite uplink, said station manager Franck Nguema.

Gabon is one of the continent's leading oil producers. The elder Bongo is accused of using the oil wealth on vanity projects such as a massive, marbled presidential palace and a little-used railroad instead of building much-needed infrastructure, like roads. He ran uncontested in some elections and dismissed allegations of fraud in others.

___

Associated Press writer Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal, and Anita Powell in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Global Good News comment:

For Maharishi's Vedic Approach to solving the problems of today's news, please visit:
http://maharishi-programmes.globalgoodnews.com

For information about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York

Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google)
(Altavista babelfish)