Liberville - Gabon banned demonstrations on Saturday and said security forces would shoot without warning to break up any protests against President Omar Bongo's re-election.

Troops were deployed after rioting on Thursday by supporters of two leading opposition candidates who say last Sunday's presidential election was rigged to give Bongo a new seven-year term.

"Marches are banned anywhere on national territory until further notice," interior minister Clotaire Ivala said.

The two main defeated candidates in the polls, Pierre Mamboundou and Zacharie Myboto, have rejected the poll results and have called on people not to go to work from today in protest.

International observers said the polls went smoothly and did not report any fraud, but Mamboundou and Myboto say they were riddled with irregularities, including ballot-stuffing and votes cast in the names of dead people. - Reuters

• This article was originally published on page 2 of The Cape Times on December 05, 2005

Published on the Web by IOL on 2005-12-05 06:22:00