Gabon opposition figure rallies support as president hospitalised Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabonese opposition politician Jean Ping on Saturday repeated his claim to have won 2016 elections as President Ali Bongo Ondimba remained in hospital in Saudi Arabia. Ping has continued to describe himself as “the elected president” following …
Read More »Ping slams proposed changes to Gabon constitution as ‘autocratic’
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Saturday said he would try to scuttle proposed changes to the country’s constitution, describing draft changes as “autocratic” and liable to violate the principle of separation of powers. “We must thwart this constitutional revision,” Ping told a crowd of supporters …
Read More »Gabon bans opposition leaders from leaving the country
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon on Sunday announced a ban on opposition leaders, including former top African Union official Jean Ping, from leaving the country in what it said was a “temporary, administrative measure”. “This measure follows inflammatory comments by Jean Ping on August 18 when he called for …
Read More »ELECTIONS: Lawyer of Gabon’s Ping reported missing
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | A lawyer for the Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping, who is still disputing the re-election of President Ali Bongo, has been missing for three days, according to Ping’s team. Eric Iga Iga, one of two lawyers who represented Ping in Constitutional Court in September when …
Read More »ICC prosecutor opening initial probe into Gabon unrest
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday she was opening an initial probe into deadly unrest in Gabon sparked by disputed elections. The government of Gabon had asked the court to open an investigation “without delay” accusing supporters of opposition leader …
Read More »Gabon rivals reach tenuous deal on poll recount
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Lawyers for President Ali Bongo and opposition leader Jean Ping told AFP on Tuesday said they have agreed to a poll recount for August’s contested presidential vote, though the methodology remains in dispute. “The parties have reached agreement on a vote recount,” said Ping’s lawyer …
Read More »It’s ‘Dallas’ in Gabon as country awaits key vote ruling
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | The head of Gabon’s top court, which has the pivotal task of ruling if President Ali Bongo’s contested re-election is valid, is a former beauty queen whose affair with the leader’s father produced two children. Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo is in the limelight in this oil-rich Central …
Read More »Gabon’s Ping goes to court over poll defeat
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Thursday appealed to the country’s highest court Thursday in an attempt to have a wafer-thin presidential election loss overturned. Ping insists he was the winner of the August 27 presidential election — which gave incumbent Ali Bongo a narrow …
Read More »Work goes on after Gabon’s Ping calls for strike to ‘topple tyrant’ president
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon’s failed presidential candidate Jean Ping on Monday called for a general strike after days of violence following incumbent Ali Bongo’s disputed re-election, saying an economic blockage would “topple the tyrant.” But the centre of the capital Libreville was its usual bustling self on Monday, …
Read More »“I am the president” says Gabon’s Ping
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon opposition leader Jean Ping on Friday declared himself the rightful president and called for a vote recount, days after incumbent Ali Bongo was declared the winner of a weekend election which has sparked deadly violence. “I am the president,” Ping told a press …
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