#Gabon: Ritual killings protest march: Union Nationale (Opposition) responds to arrests of leaders of civil society

Union Nationale responds to arrests of leaders of civil society

The opposition party Union Nationale (National Union) learned with great gravity about the wave of arrests of leaders of the Gabonese civil society, namely Georges Mpaga, Blanche Simonny Abegué, Junior Tchissambo and Auguste Eyené, after the protest march against the "ritual killings" held in Libreville, this May 11, 2013 by Gabonese who wanted to denounce this barbaric practice.

Union Nationale denounces fiercely the arbitrary nature of these arrests targeting essentially personalities of the platform "Enough is Enough" and other members of civil society who refused to give their moral support to the march organized, at the same time and with a lot of hype, by the honorary president of the women's movement of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), Sylvia Bongo. Union Nationale demands a clear explanation of those responsible for those arbitrary arrests.

Union Nationale expresses its solidarity with all the families affected by "ritual killings" and more broadly all Gabonese fighting for respect of the right to life, against the trivialization of fetish practices and impunity in Gabon. Union Nationale recalls that the march planned for April 13 by civil society was banned by the Ministry of the Interior on the grounds that it would give a bad image of Gabon. Union Nationale would also like to point out that almost all of the supposed sponsors whose names were mentioned by the perpetrators of those barbaric acts are members of the Gabonese Democratic Party in power. Union Nationale also wants to remind all that some members of the government or the current Parliament were cited (as part of ritual killings) with no actions taken by the authorities in place. Therefore, Union Nationale denounces the attempt to hijack the anger of Gabonese people and the trivialization of this phenomenon from another age by the people in power. Union Nationale calls again the international community on this umpteenth violation of individual freedoms and the rules of law in Gabon, which is now the only mode of action known to this regime which has came to power fraudulently since the electoral coup of September 03, 2009.

 

Communication Commission of Union Nationale.

Translated from French by CLG.

Note: Union Nationale is biggest opposition party in Gabon dissolved by law by the dictatorial regime of Ali Bongo in 2011. By that act, Gabon is on of the few countries in the world (like North Korea and China) dissolving political parties by law. Even during apartheid in South Africa, ANC, Nelson Mandela's party, was never dissolved by law.