Uneasy calm after Gabon riots

Residents fear fresh outbreaks of violence after disputed poll

LIBREVILLE: Soldiers were deployed in the Gaborone capital of Libreville yesterday as residents ventured back on to the streets to buy provisions amid the damage left by two days of rioting.

Sparked by a disputed presidential election, clashes across the city led to three deaths and about 1 100 arrests by Thursday after noon, the interior minister said, as supporters of defeated challenger Jean Ping – who alleged the ballot had been fixed – faced off against state security forces.

Some shops in the city centre were open yesterday, but there was little traffic.

Residents expressed concern that there might be a resurgence of violence.

For mer colonial power France and others in the West have condemned the rioting, while calling for greater transparency about the election result.

The electoral commission declared President Ali Bongo the election winner by a narrow margin on Wednesday, extending his family’s near-halfcentury rule for seven years.

Ping, a former close ally of the president who fathered two children with the leader’s daughter, called on Bongo to step down on Wednesday.

Demonstrators set fire to parliament hours after the election result was announced.

The interior of the assembly hall was gutted, with seats and tables reduced to cinders.

In the rioting that followed, television stations, supermarkets, shops, and homes were looted in Libreville.

Violence also erupted in other cities and provinces, Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya said.

France, the US and the EU urged the authorities on Wednesday to release polling station results for greater transparency.

Bongo’s spokesman rejected this request on Thursday.

According to the official results of the election last Saturday, Bongo won 49.80 percent of the votes and Ping won 48.23 percent.

Allies of Bongo, whose family have cultivated close relations with a succession of French presidents, expressed anger on Sunday after France’s ruling Socialist Party said early results showed Ping to be the winner.

They accused France of failing to respect the sovereignty of the country.

Interviewed on France 2 television yesterday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “We are Africa’s partners, but we do not, in any case, want to intervene in countries’ internal affairs.

“That would be disrespectful of Africans, they don’t ask for it.”

Soldiers, deployed throughout Libreville on Thursday to reinforce the police, were positioned at intersections yesterday, while the elite republican guard ensured security near the presidential palace.

Riot police were also visible.

Bongo visited the parliamentary building late on Thursday.

He also met two police officers who were being treated in hospital for gun wounds.