Gabon's main cities were calm on Friday, a day after the announcement that ruling party candidate Ali Ben Bongo had won a presidential election sparked riots and attacks on French interests in the oil-producer. An overnight curfew remained in force in oil hub Port Gentil after Thursday's attacks on French oil major Total and US oil services firm Schlumberger in the city, as well as former colonial power France's consulate there.
"It is calm now ... there is evidence of pillage from yesterday," Port Gentil resident Guiroger Ragoula told Reuters. "People are inspecting the damage from last night. The 'Grand Village' market was looted and burned. Many shops have been looted," he added.
Port Gentil bore the brunt of the violence but there were also clashes in the capital Libreville after the interior minister said on Thursday that Ben Bongo had won the race to replace his father, late President Omar Bongo, who died in June after nearly 42 years in power. A Reuters witness said Libreville was calm on Friday, with residents slowly getting back to their daily routines by starting to go to work or buy goods from the market after most spent the previous day hunkered down in houses during sporadic clashes.
Bongo's nearest rivals in the poll were former interior minister Andre Mba Obame and veteran opposition figure Pierre Mamboundou, who both secured just over 25 percent of the vote. Bongo won 41.7 percent. The opposition has rejected the outcome of the vote, which both Obame and Mamboundou claimed to have won, and accused Ben Bongo of rigging the vote to impose what they call a Bongo "monarchy" on the central African country.
Some observers say a legal challenge is likely, but the opposition has so far given no indication it is ready to mount action in the courts. "The contest is over. There are methods of appealing. The Gabonese people must not be held hostage," Ben Bongo told French newspaper Le Monde.
French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet said election observers had seen only minor irregularities. Observers and financial markets have played down the risk of major instability in Gabon - a rare sub-Saharan country to have a Eurobond - but a degree of short-term unrest in the immediate aftermath of the publication of results was expected given the breadth of opposition to Bongo.
"It appears highly likely that there will be a legal challenge to the election," Standard Bank analyst Michael Hugman said. "There is then a risk that this process drags on, creating medium-term uncertainty about the political outlook, and potentially increasing the pressure on Ali Ben Bongo to trade off reduced fiscal discipline for greater political support." Gabon's government said it would immediately step up security after the post-poll violence and announced the establishment of special security cells, without giving details.
"Most of the mayhem will die down in the coming days for lack of coherent opposition leadership and the mixed emotional reasons behind today's attacks," said Sebastian Spio-Garbrah, Middle East and Africa analyst at Eurasia Group.
Omar Bongo's long rule brought stability and prosperity to a volatile part of the continent, but not without accusations Bongo used petrodollars to enrich himself at the expense of the Gabonese people. Analysts say the fact that most Gabonese actually voted against Ben Bongo in the poll, and that Gabon's oil reserves are dwindling, will mean that the new president is likely to seek consensus in his new government.
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