Delegates from West and Central African countries gathered in Gabon’s capital Libreville on Tuesday to open talks on a joint accord to fight the trafficking of children and women that plagues the continent. Gabon’s Foreign Minister, Jean-Francois Ndongou, opened the session, saying ”better regional cooperation is necessary” to combat trafficking.
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/ 1 December 2005
The Gabon Constitutional Court on Thursday declared the re-election of Omar Bongo Ondimba as President of the republic with 79,18% of the votes cast in last weekend’s election. Bongo (69) who has been in power since 1967, is Africa’s longest-ruling leader.
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/ 30 November 2005
Omar Bongo’s re-election as Gabon’s President led to overnight riots, clashes and arrests in the economic capital of Port-Gentil after opposition claims of fraud, witnesses said on Wednesday. Scores of youths went on the rampage in the port city in the south-west of the oil-rich Central African country.
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/ 30 November 2005
Gabon’s President Omar Bongo, who has been in power since 1967, was re-elected for seven more years after winning 79,2% of the votes cast in Sunday’s election, the country’s interior minister said late on Tuesday. Voter turnout was at 63,3% of the 570 000 Gabonese who were eligible to vote in the presidential contest.
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/ 29 November 2005
The final results from Gabon’s presidential vote are expected on Tuesday, election officials said, as an opposition candidate claimed an early lead despite reports giving the 38-year incumbent the edge. Another main challenger in the race charged ”massive fraud” in Sunday’s ballot.
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/ 16 September 2005
Gabon’s National Communication Council (CNC) has warned the bosses of 22 private newspapers and radio stations to stop doubling up jobs incompatible with their public duties, a CNC statement said. The CNC on Thursday quoted the code that regulates the media in the oil-rich Central African nation.
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/ 4 September 2005
Take one soup cube, pepper, salt and onions, not forgetting chunks of monkey, head included. Cook in a casserole and serve. At the restaurant Maman Marie Gibier in Libreville, the dish will set appreciative diners back 1 500 francs CFA (R17,40). ”I have been eating monkey since I was little,” said one diner.
South African President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Libreville on Tuesday for a state visit as part of a drive to strengthen relations across the African continent. Mbeki met his Gabonese counterpart Omar Bongo Ondimba and signed agreements on protecting and promoting investments, maritime matters and cooperation in the arts, education and training.
Aids activists in Africa describe the late Pope John Paul II’s fierce opposition to the use of condoms as a major obstacle in the battle against Aids in Africa, where the disease killed 2,3-million people in 2004. They said that his position was a big obstacle in slowing the spread of Aids, and hoped that the next pope would be more progressive on the issue.
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/ 25 February 2005
Children’s rights activists have long expressed concern over the extent of child trafficking and exploitation in West Africa. Recent events in Gabon might give them cause for hope, however. For the first time in its history, the country is to try persons accused of these crimes. Eight nationals from Benin and Togo have been indicted for trafficking and exploitation.
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/ 20 December 2004
Street vendors who ply their trade in African cities aren’t generally viewed as posing a serious danger to public health. That is, unless one buys medicines and other forms of treatment from them — as the citizens of Gabon are discovering. The vendors sell smuggled and counterfeit treatments that are often cheaper that those available over the counter.
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/ 19 December 2004
Flag down a red and white taxi in Gabon’s capital between now and February and you might get more than you bargained for. Around 300 taxi drivers in Libreville have been drafted into the fight against HIV/Aids and are handing out free condoms to passengers as well as leaflets about the disease and practising safe sex.
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/ 19 December 2004
The young woman lying in a hospital bed in Libreville, Gabon’s capital, complained of pains caused by poor blood circulation in her swollen legs. She could hardly walk, she said, because of the cramps which started after she took slimming pills her sister had bought on a city street. She could be considered lucky. Others have suffered much more from drugs bought from informal vendors on the street.
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/ 12 October 2004
Thirty Gabonese villagers have been arrested following an attack last month on a police station in the south of the country, in which two police officers were killed, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. Each suspect’s involvement in the attack on the police station has not yet been defined, he said.
A small commercial airplane crashed into the Atlantic off the West African nation of Gabon on Tuesday, company officials said. Authorities rescued 10 of the people on board and were searching for 20 others. The craft was a two-engine propeller plane flown by Gabon Express, a private Gabon company.
Only 10% of Gabonese businesswomen manage companies in the country, and at present, women account for less than 5% of CEOs of companies in Gabon. Many face an uphill struggle in trying to get fair treatment from their male counterparts, who have tended to judge them on their physical appearance alone.