Gabon’s president-elect Brice Oligui Nguema, 50, who led a coup ending decades of Bongo family rule and swept polls last month with nearly 95 percent of the vote, was to be sworn in yesterday.
The general and former junta leader, who toppled Ali Bongo in August 2023, ending 55 years of dynastic rule by the Bongo family, officially takes the presidential reins after leading a 19-month transition government.
Several African heads of state were expected to attend the inauguration, including Gambian President Adama Barrow, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Photo: AP
Kigali and Kinshasa are currently in talks to end fighting in eastern DR Congo. Tickets were free to attend the investiture at the Angondje stadium, built to honor friendship between Gabon and China, and it would be the first time the country holds a swearing-in ceremony in front of such a large audience.
The event was to have artistic performances, a military parade and a “victory concert” on the Libreville waterfront in the evening, state media had said. In the lead-up, hundreds of workers have been painstakingly cleaning and repainting areas around the main roads leading to the stadium.
Authorities and official media have called for people to be public-spirited in view of the influx of foreign guests.
“All citizens of Greater Libreville are asked to extend a warm welcome to these distinguished guests,” the Gabonese Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
It also called on residents near the stadium to “take part in cleaning and beautifying” the area.
Oligui faces serious challenges in leading the oil-rich country, which needs to revamp crucial infrastructure and diversify its economy, but is heavily indebted.
Among the main concerns are an aging electricity network which has frequent power cuts, youth unemployment that hovers at 40 percent, poor or lacking roads and a ballooning public debt, which is forecast to hit 80 percent of GDP this year.
During the transition, Oligui portrayed himself as a “builder,” launching numerous construction projects while vowing to “crack down” on corruption to get the country back on track.
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS