Violence in Gabon after the death of Andre Mba Obame
Opposition supporters in Gabon have set fire to the embassy of Benin
and burnt cars in the streets of the capital Libreville.
Reports say the violence came after the announcement of the death of
senior opposition figure Andre Mba Obame.
The 57-year-old died after a prolonged illness in neighbouring
Cameroon earlier on Sunday.
Mr Obame refused to accept defeat in elections in 2009 and declared
himself president.
The former advisor to long-time President Omar Bongo lost that
election to the president's son Ali Bongo.
'Unclear conditions'
But Mr Obame said that he was the rightful winner and legitimate
president.
His National Union (NU) party was dissolved by the government as a
result, and Mr Obame was accused of treason.
The ban on the NU party was lifted in February.
The NU announced Mr Obame's death in the Cameroonian capital
Yaounde but did not give a cause of death.
Some of his supporters have accused the government of murdering Mr
Obame.
"I think that the Gabonese people know that they've lost the true
president elected in 2009 in unclear conditions," National Union
spokesman François Ondo Edou told Reuters.
Gabon's Interior Minister Guy Bertrand Mapangou said that everything
would be done to find the perpetrators of the violence.
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