Libreville, Jan 14 (AFP) Gabon opposition leader JeanPing has been prevented from taking a flight to France bysecurity forces who said he needed to stay over a judicialmatter, he said.
Ping, a 75-year-old career diplomat, was narrowlydefeated by incumbent Ali Bongo in last year's presidentialelection, a victory that he claims was tainted by electoralfraud.
"I was supposed to travel this evening but the securityforces prevented me," the former African Union chief told AFP.
Ping said he had not been notified of any ban on leavingthe country, but said it appeared to be linked to a judicialrequest that he help with an inquiry in which he has beencalled as a witness.
An official-looking letter banning him from leaving thecountry, on grounds he needed to be available to the judgeleading an inquiry into a protester arrested in September, waswidely circulated on social media but AFP was unable to verifyits authenticity.
"The courts are on strike," he said, referring to astrike led by magistrates since mid-December. "How could theyissue such a document so quickly?"But government spokesman Alain-Claude Bilie by Nze saidPing was aware of the ban.
"He is very cheeky! It's him who was trying to pull off adisappearing act when he should be answering for his acts incourt," he told AFP.
Traffic was snarled up due to the heavy deployment ofsecurity forces at Libreville airport where around 50 ofPing's supporters had also gathered, among them oppositionfigures such as former oil minister Alexandre Barro Chambrier.
Last night in Paris, about 30 of Ping's supportersoccupied a mansion in the city's upscale SeventhArrondissement belonging to Bongo, which they say waspurchased under dubious circumstances.
The protesters said they were denouncing the government'smove to keep Ping from coming to France, as well as"embezzlement" of state funds by the Bongo family.
"President Bongo spent a fortune, more than 200 millioneuros, to buy and renovate this mansion," one of theprotesters, Jean-Felix Adande, told AFP.
"This is wrongly acquired property, which belongs to theGabonese people, so the Gabonese people are taking it back,"he said.
Another demonstrator, Doriane Ozenga, slammed the"shocking luxury" of the mansion, "with its immense rooms andgold-plated doorknobs."The mansion is owned by the president of a country whereabout a third of its 1.8 million people live below the povertyline.
The protesters stayed for several hours at the Pozzo diBorgo mansion, which has been empty during renovation works.
French anti-corruption groups have accused Bongo and hisfamily of siphoning off Gabon's wealth, but an inquiry led byFrench judges was closed in August last year, with no chargesfiled.
Ping had faced a similar ban on leaving Gabon inSeptember after the government accused him of making"inflammatory comments", but it was lifted about a week later.
Gabon's parliament on Wednesday approved a raft ofchanges to the constitution which was denounced by theopposition as a power grab, with the proposal now set to beapproved by the constitutional court.
Where the previous version said the president would rule"in consultation with the government", the new text allows himto "determine the policy of the nation" while also ruling outany limit on the number of times he can be re-elected.
Bongo has ruled Gabon since 2009, taking control afterthe death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had been in powersince 1967.
He said last week that the new constitution paved the wayfor long-delayed legislative elections, "demonstrating thevitality of our democracy and the sealing of the politicalcohesion of our nation."The elections were supposed to have taken place inDecember 2016 but have been postponed twice. The latest dategiven for them is April this year. (AFP)KIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.