LIBREVILLE, Gabon: Gabon’s newly re-elected president sought to assert authority Thursday as the presidential guard attacked the opposition candidate’s party headquarters amid fiery protests that have seen three killed, hundreds detained and the internet blocked.
The opposition quickly alleged election fraud after results announced Wednesday showed that a family dynasty stretching back to the 1960s would remain in power in this oil-rich Central African country.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba beat opposition candidate Jean Ping by a narrow margin in Saturday’s vote, 49.8 percent to 48.2 percent, according to the electoral commission’s provisional results.
Ping’s supporters have taken to the streets in protest, burning cars and buildings, vandalizing and looting. They burned cars in front of the National Assembly on Wednesday night, sending thick smoke over the city, after police fired tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators.
Security forces detained 800 people in the capital, Libreville, and 400 people in other areas of the country, according to Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet Boubeya.
The unrest killed at least three people, Boubeya said, without giving details.
In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the response by security forces “disproportionate” and he called on the government to “immediately restore communications, especially the Internet.”