Gabon parliament torched after disputed election results are announced

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Wed, 31 Aug 2016 22:00:00 +0000

Gabon’s parliament has been set alight in violence that followed President Ali Bono being named winner of the presidential election.

Opposition candidate Jean Ping says two people have been killed and many injured when security forces attacked his party’s headquarters.

Ali Bongo has won a second term as Gabon president with 49,8% of votes cast last Saturday.

Jean Ping polled 48,2% of the votes.

Violence broke out shortly after the announcement of results.

Government say they targeted armed criminals who torched parliament.

Ping, who disputes the result, says the republican guard attacked his party headquarters with helicopters and ground forces.

Bongo’s win gives his family a five-decade hold on power in the oil-rich little central-west African state that his father ruled for 42 years.

Coup attempt in The Gambia

Jean-Jacques Cornish — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 22:00:00 +0000

There appears to have been an attempt to overthrow the president of The Gambia while he’s out of the country.

Heavy gunfire’s erupted near the presidential palace in the capital, Banjul, reports say.

With President Yahya Jammeh abroad, soldiers of the presidential guard in The Gambia have tried to stage a coup.

Details are thin from military and diplomatic sources in the west African country entirely enveloped by Senegal.

They say the attackers have been beaten back.

Jammeh himself seized power in a coup in 1994.

He leads one of the most repressive regimes in Africa.

Two years ago the man who claims he can cure HIV/AIDS by the laying on of hands boasted he would rule for a billion years.

It’s not sure where Jammeh is at present.

Some media say he’s in France. Others report he’s in Dubai.