- Title: Gabon divided ahead of Ali Bongo inauguration
- Date: 26th September 2016
- Summary: LIBREVILLE, GABON (SEPTEMBER 26, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF CITY CENTRE NKEMBO NEIGHBOURHOOD NEAR PRESIDENTIAL PALACE VARIOUS OF BOY DRINKING FROM BUCKET (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNEMPLOYED MOTHER, MARTHE, SAYING: "It's bad because I'm not working. I have a big family and we don't have the means. Look at where I'm living ... there is nothing. I spend all day just sitting here. I sit here 24/7. There is nothing to do." (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNEMPLOYED MOTHER, MARTHE, SAYING: "I'm living here in misery. What does politics offer me? It gives me nothing." KIDS WALKING IN NEIGHBOURHOOD VARIOUS OF WOMAN COOKING IN HER KITCHEN (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNEMPLOYED, PHANNYE, SAYING: "We know that he (Ping) is the winner, we know that the Gabonese voted for him, but unfortunately, the constitutional court stole our victory. We know that Mr. Jean Ping won." PEOPLE SITTING IN THEIR HOME (SOUNDBITE) (French) RETIRED, ABAGA ONDO, SAYING: "People are going to be fed up one day. No matter how calm we can be sometimes, at some point people won't be able to tolerate this situation anymore. It's going to explode." ONDO (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNIDENTIFIED MAN SAYING: "We are suffering. The Gabonese are suffering more than anyone. We don't want to be in this situation anymore. Help us. We the Gabonese want to be happy like other countries." MAN SPEAKING TO REUTERS CORRESPONDENT NEIGHBOURHOOD SCENE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SITTING OUTSIDE THEIR HOME (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNEMPLOYED, FATOU, SAYING: "It's not going well. We don't live well. There is no change and there has never been any change. Since the day I was born until today, at 40-years-old, we are still suffering in the same way. We need change. There are people with degrees who can't find work. They're still sitting here." MAN COOKING ON GRILL (SOUNDBITE) (French) UNEMPLOYED, JHONNY NDONG, SAYING: "We are forced to do odd jobs that don't pay well just to keep surviving. We are still just hanging in the streets. And until now, the supposedly elected president of the country promised us a reliable future, but to this day we have not seen it." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE, WASTE IN STREET VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION LEADER JEAN PING (CENTRE) SITTING AT TABLE AT NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 11th October 2016 21:30
- Keywords: Libreville Gabon election Ali Bongo Jean Ping
- Location: LIBREVILLE, GABON
- City: LIBREVILLE, GABON
- Country: Gabon
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001517F3UV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Gabon President Ali Bongo is to be sworn in on Tuesday (September 27) for a second term in a disputed election that sent protesters into the streets contesting the results.
Within half an hour of the results announcing Ali Bongo's narrow victory against Jean Ping, parliament was burned down and dozens of other government buildings attacked.
Late last Friday (September 23) the Constitutional Court threw out a challenge by the main opposition contender Ping, enabling Bongo to extend his family's rule over the central African nation of 1.8 million.
Just three kilometres from the presidential palace in the Nkembo neighbourhood of district 2, people live in basic huts and open sewers, suffering from power cuts several times daily.
"It's bad because I'm not working. I have a big family and we don't have the means. Look at where I'm living ... there is nothing. I spend all day just sitting here. I sit here 24/7. There is nothing to do," said Marthe, 50, an unemployed mother.
"I'm living here in misery. What does politics offer me? It gives me nothing," she added.
Most living here are unemployed and blame the successive Bongo governments who together have ruled the country for 50 years.
"We know that he (Ping) is the winner, we know that the Gabonese voted for him, but unfortunately, the constitutional court stole our victory. We know that Mr. Jean Ping won," said Phannye, who is also unemployed.
The election had provided them with a glimmer of hope that they could reverse the Bongo rule and finally reap the benefits of the country's oil revenue.
"People are going to be fed up one day. No matter how calm we can be sometimes, at some point people won't be able to tolerate this situation anymore. It's going to explode," said Abaga Ondo, 60, who is now retired.
Just hours before the swearing in ceremony, anger amongst those who did not vote for Ali Bongo was high.
"We are suffering. The Gabonese are suffering more than anyone. We don't want to be in this situation anymore. Help us. We the Gabonese want to be happy like other countries," said a Ping supporter and Nkembo neighbourhood resident who did not want to give his name.
Bongo came to power in a contentious 2009 election following the death of his father Omar Bongo, who was president of Gabon for 42 years and to whom Ping himself was very close.
"Bongo Junior", as he is nicknamed, is showing signs of wanting to handle opponents in much the same way his father did: by bringing them into the tent.
On Saturday (September 24) he called for members of opposition parties to come and join his cabinet.
But any deal made between the fractious sides is unlikely to soothe those who voted against Bongo in the hope for radical change.
"It's not going well. We don't live well. There is no change and there has never been any change. Since the day I was born until today, at 40-years-old, we are still suffering in the same way. We need change. There are people with degrees who can't find work. They're still sitting here," said Fatou, 40, who is unemployed.
Omar Bongo relied heavily on oil and cosy business deals with ex-coloniser France, but Ali Bongo organised forums and galas vaunting an "Emerging Gabon" that would govern well, engage with a globalised world and protect a relatively pristine environment.
"We are forced to do odd jobs that don't pay well just to keep surviving. We are still just hanging in the streets. And until now, the supposedly elected president of the country promised us a reliable future, but to this day we have not seen it," said Jhonny Ndong, who is unemployed.
Yet persistent doubts over the poll, especially a 95 percent on a 99.9 percent turnout in Bongo's stronghold of Haut-Ogooue and the violent suppression of protests afterwards means Bongo has inherited a deeply divided country.
Ping swiftly rejected the constitutional court ruling as biased, and many Gabonese feared a return to the violence that killed at least six people - Ping's supporters say it was more than 50 - when the result was first announced at the start of the month.
And yet Ping, whom authorities have threatened to arrest for inciting violence, has so far refrained from calling people on to the streets.
That raises the possibility of a peaceful resolution, although Ping insists the will of the Gabonese people must be respected. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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