LIBREVILLE: Gabon's main opposition leader Andre Mba Obame arrived in Libreville Saturday after 14 months in France, saying the International Criminal Court would look into a 2009 “massacre” at Port-Gentil.
Obame, leader of the now outlawed National Union (UN) party who claimed to have won the last presidential election, was greeted by up to 3,000 supporters on his return after his long absence for “health reasons”.
He was not bothered by the authorities and went from the airport to his home although his followers had feared police action and even the arrest of their leader upon arrival.
He told his backers: “The ICC will soon announce that it will send an inquiry here because people were massacred at Port-Gentil. They were thrown out of helicopters.”
Some 60 people were killed at the western city in 2009 after the contested election win by Ali Bongo Ondimba, Obame said, “and they (authorities) said 'it's nothing'. But the ICC is coming, the ICC is at our doors.”
An official toll said three people were killed in riots after the elections, but the opposition has challenged the figures.
Obame, a former loyalist who turned to the opposition after the death of Omar Bongo in 2009, also called for a national conference to prevent further violence.
“We are calling for a sovereign national conference,” he declared.
