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06.09.2012 Africa

Guard wounded in attack on Gabon opposition TV station

By AFP
Gabon's main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame addresses supporters in August 2012.  By Xavier Bourgois AFPFileGabon's main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame addresses supporters in August 2012. By Xavier Bourgois (AFP/File)
06.09.2012 LISTEN

LIBREVILLE (AFP) - A gang armed with a hammer attacked the television station of Gabon's main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame early on Wednesday, badly injuring a guard, the editor-in-chief told AFP.

"Around 3:00 am, a group of six people entered the TV+ building, grabbed one of the guards, hit him on the head with a hammer, stabbed him in the back, then tied him up," Ismael Obiang said, adding the guard's life was not in danger.

The attackers fled after more guards arrived, he said.

"We were told that a group, probably the same one, tried to enter the other site of TV+ but security has been bolstered there since the last attack. They fled right away," Obiang added.

Interior Minister Jean-François Ndongou expressed his concern and announced an inquiry.

It was not the first time the broadcaster has been targeted.

On the night of August 15, after a protest by Mba Obame's dissolved National Union (UN) party degenerated into violence, the transmitter of TV+ was torched by armed masked men.

During legislative elections last December, TV+ stopped broadcasting following an act of sabotage, according to its director Franck Nguema.

There was also a machine-gun attack during elections in 2009.

Mba Obame, a former member of the ruling party who defected to the opposition, left Gabon in 2011 after declaring himself elected head of state, refusing to recognise the electoral victory of Ali Bongo Ondimba in 2009.

His UN party was subsequently dissolved and therefore does not have the right to organise demonstrations.

Mba Obame returned in August from exile. His opposition movement says it intends to oust Ali Bongo.

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