Crisis is brewing in Libreville, capital of Gabon and at least nine neighborhoods on Thursday, following the declaration of Ali Bongo as President in that country’s Presidential election, held on Wednesday.
Reports have it that protests have spread to at least nine neighborhoods throughout Libreville on Thursday even as witnesses reported hearing gunfire and blasts, as others saw protesters burning tires, looting shops, and smashing cars.
Libreville local newspapers reported that the internet was cut on Thursday, as they observed that Twitter and Facebook stopped working.
Protests came amid accusations of rigging. Mr. Bongo, who secured his second seven-year term on Wednesday, has been president of the Central African country since 2009. He was preceded by his father, Omar Bongo, who ruled for 42 years.
According to the electoral commission, Mr. Bongo defeated his rival with 49.8 percent of the vote to his rival’s 48.23 percent
This is even as the chief rival to President Bongo, Jean Ping, said that the presidential guard bombed his party’s headquarters and killed two people on Thursday.
A government spokesman who confirmed the bombing said that it was done to fish out the protesters who set fire to the parliament.
“The presidential guard plus some mercenaries and the police, after 1 a.m., bombed my headquarters. They destroyed everything, and we have now two deaths and several people wounded,” Mr. Ping said.
Mr. Ping, who had declared himself winner, demanded a recount, saying: “everybody knows that I won the election. The (Bongo) family is repeating the same scenario for almost half a century. The opposition can win the elections but they never have access to power.”
“What we are asking is, under the supervision of the international community, to count ballot by ballot, bureau by bureau. And then you will see that the margin is so big that he cannot win. It’s as simple as that,” the opposition leader told Al-Jazeera.
The government had deployed the military and armed police officers on Tuesday in anticipation of violence.
France, the European Union, and the United States have called on the authorities to release the results of individual polling stations for the sake of transparency and urged protesters to remain calm. [myad]
