Gabon tells of plot by opposition

LIBREVILLE, Monday

Gabon’s interior ministry has accused opposition leader and presidential claimant Andre Mba Obame of seeking to destabilise the central African country with calls for “insurrection and civil disobedience”.

“In a speech marked with tribal and ethnic slurs, he called on his supporters for insurrection and civil disobedience, issued the threat of death to people in whose name he claimed to be speaking; all things that promote the destabilisation of institutions of the republic,” the ministry said in a statement issued overnight.

Opposition

A former member of the ruling party who went into opposition, Mr Mba Obame returned to Gabon on Saturday after 14 months of convalescence abroad.

His supporters were wary of hostile police action, but the security forces maintained a low profile at a rally of up to 3,000 people.

In his speech to the crowd, Mr Mba Obame stated: “We are calling for a sovereign national conference. It’s the only way of getting the country out of the crisis without bloodshed.”

“Either there will be political violence or there will be a national conference. I think it’s better to go straight to the conference.

‘‘Because even when there’s violence, we always end up round a table. Let’s save time, lives and violence.”

He called for a mass demonstration of support on Wednesday.