Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Libreville (Agenzia Fides) – A vote recount and international investigation commission for the post-electoral violence...these are the requests being made by the opposition in Gabon, which continues to deny the victory of Ali Bongo (son of deceased President Omar Bongo) in the presidential elections that took place on August 30. According to official data, Bongo was elected with 42% of the vote.
“We are calling for a recount of the votes, which was interrupted by the President of the Electoral Commission,” said the 16 candidates who were defeated in the presidential race, in a statement read by former Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong, spokesman for the opposition.
Ndong is also calling for “an international investigation commission to determine the seriousness of the facts, the violations of the human rights, and who is responsible for this bloodbath.” According to the authorities, in the post-electoral violence that took place, especially in Port-Gentil, the country's economic capital, three people died, the majority of them amidst the sacking and not during protests. The opposition challenges that statement. “The number of deaths caused by the repression of the army is much higher than those in power would like to believe,” said Ndong.
In the meantime, calm seems to have returned to Port-Gentil, where economic activity is once again getting underway. In 1990, Port-Gentil was also the site of violence that broke out between demonstrators and the police. In the city, which is isolated from the rest of the country, as it is only accessible by plane or boat, there are various headquarters of oil companies at work in the nation, which is one of the leading oil manufactures in western Africa. Port-Gentil reveals the contrast between the poverty in which the majority of the local population live, and the wealth that the nation possesses, but that slips through the fingers of its inhabitants. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 8/9/2009)
