Gabon Army Accused of Opposition HQ Attack After Parliament Set on Fire

Thousands of angry protesters took to the streets of the capital, Libreville, accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second term by a razor-thin margin over rival Jean Ping.

Gunfire crackled across the city and plumes of smoke billowed from the torched parliament building as anti-government protesters clashed with heavily armed security forces.

Security forces surrounded the opposition headquarters overnight and stormed the building in the early hours of Thursday morning, killing two and injuring more than a dozen there, Ping said.

“They attacked around 1 am. It is the Republican Guard. They were bombarding with helicopters and then they attacked on the ground. There are 19 people injured, some of them very seriously,” said Ping, who was not at the party headquarters, AFP reported.

The president of the opposition National Union party, Zacharie Myboto, who was inside the besieged building, said security forces were hurling teargas canisters and opened fire.

“For nearly an hour the building has been surrounded. They want to enter the building … it is extremely violent,” he said shortly after the siege began.

A government spokesman said the operation was to catch “criminals” who had earlier set fire to the parliament building.

“Armed people who set fire to the parliament had gathered at Jean Ping’s headquarters along with hundreds of looters and thugs … they were not political protesters but criminals,” said Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze.

A heavy military and police presence had brought large parts of Libreville to a standstill and internet access has also been cut.

“We have said that the people of Gabon are in danger. They [the international community] should come and help us against the clan [of Bongo],” Ping said.

The results of the presidential election, announced earlier on Wednesday, handed Bongo a second term and extended the nearly five-decade rule by his family.

However, the results – which gave Bongo 49.8% to Ping’s 48.23% by a margin of less than 6,000 votes – remain “provisional” until approved by the constitutional court.

The opposition has described the election as fraudulent and called for results from each of Gabon’s polling stations to be made public to ensure the credibility of the overall outcome – a demand echoed by the US and EU.

EU observers have said the vote was “managed in a way that lacked transparency” and opposition delegates in the electoral commission have already vowed to fight for a recount.

Any appeal by Ping – a veteran diplomat and former top African Union official who had earlier declared himself the poll winner – would probably focus on disputed results in Haut-Ogooué province, the heartland of Bongo’s Teke ethnic group.

In Saturday’s vote, turnout was 59.46% nationwide but soared to 99.93% in Haut-Ogooué, where Bongo won 95.5% of votes.

“It’s going to be difficult to get people to accept these results,” one member of the electoral commission said, asking not to be named. “We’ve never seen results like these, even during the father’s time.”

Bongo took power in 2009 in a violence-marred election that followed the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had governed the oil-rich former French colony for 41 years.