Protests in Gabon have failed to make a dent in the international news cycle as all eyes are still turned towards the Egyptian crisis. Mohamed Keita of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) was wondering if “fake news wasn’t drawing real censorship” in Gabon, as he discussed the closing of the 1st private Gabonese TV channel, TV+. According to M Keita, the overreaction by the Ali Bongo’s government is a sign of a deeper concern : what was considered ridiculous by Ali Bongo and his partisans before seems to have created subtantial political turmoil in this little Central African nation.
The rhetorical strategy of Bongo’s camp seems to consist of the total denyial of the opposition party.
“Gabon: Political crisis: Uprising of the people happening now; poor districts of Nkembo, Cocotiers, Gare-Routière, Atong Abè. One serious wounded.”
In the last five days, the country has witnessed excivil unrest. But IQ4News, a columnist style magazine website dedicated to African related issues,noticed that Protests in Gabon “have gone largely unnoticed by the media because of the focus on Egypt.”
Mass Protests in Libreville and the UNDP building attack
Thanks to locally based activists, there has a been a coverage of the events, and the latter was advertised through different social networks.
Last saturday a demonstration was organised at Carrefour Rio in Libreville, the Capital city. More than 2000 Mba Obame’s partisans went to protest against Ali Bongo’s government and faced the public forces.
This demonstration was followed by violent clashes between Mba Obame’s partisans and Ali Bongo’s Police forces, who were trapped by groups of demonstrators in slums near the place where the demonstration started.
