Tag: Jean Ping

Gabon’s opposition leader Jean Ping on Thursday called for national talks to form a “new republic” and urged foreign powers to impose sanctions on allies of President Ali Bongo, sworn in this week after a disputed election in the oil-producing nation.

Ping remained intransigent during his speech in the capital Libreville, saying he refused to recognise Bongo’s presidency.

But his appeal for dialogue — albeit on his own terms — could help usher in a return to normal after post-election violence last month killed at least six people, Reuters reported.

Ping ridiculed Bongo’s earlier appeals for talks, saying  the president, who came to power in a contentious 2009 election following his father Omar Bongo’s death after 42 years in power, had won fraudulently.

Instead, Ping said he would organise his own talks, though he provided few details.

“This inclusive national dialogue will be the occasion to put in place the foundations of a new republic,” he said.

Ping also called for sanctions against the authors of what he called “a military-electoral coup d’etat” and urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to come to Gabon to investigate violence after Bongo was declared the winner.

Gabon opposition leader, Jean Ping, on Friday urged an international inquiry into violence that followed the announcement of presidential election results in which at least six people were killed.

President Ali Bongo was declared winner of the August 27 election by less than 6,000 votes but is under pressure over the result, which Ping claimed was rigged, Reuters reported.

The announcement of results triggered days of riots in the capital Libreville and elsewhere.

Three people were killed and up to 1,100 were arrested in Gabon on Thursday, the government said, in a second day of rioting over the announcement of President Ali Bongo’s re-election and his main rival’s accusation that the vote was rigged.

Opposition challenger Jean Ping accused the elections commission of inflating Bongo’s score to hand him a slim victory and extend his family’s nearly half-century rule in the oil-producing Central African country for another seven years.

Ping called on Bongo to step down.

Violent protests raged in at least nine neighbourhoods of the capital Libreville, two witnesses and a police source said on Thursday, a day after demonstrators set fire to the parliament building following the results announcement.

“We want everyone to see, to tour the city, to witness the level of devastation, destruction, violence organised by certain politicians who do not want to recognise their defeat,” Reuters quoted the Interior Minister, Pacome Moubelet Boubeya, as saying at a news conference.

He said several television stations, supermarkets, shops, and private homes had been looted in Libreville and the city hall was targeted by arsonists. Violence erupted in several other cities and provinces as well, he said.

Moubelet Boubeya said protesters had used grenades and police had seized AK-47 assault rifles, an accusation an opposition spokesman rejected.

Loud explosions and gunfire resounded through the Nkembo neighbourhood of Gabon’s capital on Thursday as security forces clashed with demonstrators protesting President Ali Bongo’s election victory.

Protesters claimed the election was rigged, witnesses told Reuters.

Clashes over the election result started on Wednesday when the parliament was partially set on fire.

Overnight, security forces assaulted the headquarters of opposition leader Jean Ping, according to Ping and witnesses.