Opposition activist arrested after bomb threats against Gabon's president

A Gabonese opposition activist was arrested on Friday after he threatened to bomb state buildings if President Ali Bongo doesn’t step down in 72 hours.

Minister of Communications, Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze confirmed the arrest of Roland Désiré Aba’a Minko who is an ardent supporter of opposition leader Jean Ping.

“He was arrested at the European Commission headquarters at the request of the European Union,” Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze told AFP.

The arrest was made shortly after the opposition activist publicly said he had planted bombs at the “administrative and ministerial buildings”, threatening to detonate them if the president doesn’t step down in 72 hours.

His statement followed an attack on the main opposition party headquarters on Wednesday night. The party said it had filed a complaint with the police on Thursday.

“Unidentified individuals threw two molotov cocktails on the building,” said Paul-Marie Gondjout, an official of Jean Ping’s party said.

A coalition of opposition parties, Coalition for the New Republic (CNR), led by Jean Ping condemned the statement of the arrested opposition activist Roland Désiré Aba’a Minko saying “he is only known as a member of the party and he acted on his own free will”.

A mission from the International Criminal Court (ICC) will be in the country on Tuesday for a preliminary examination of the complaints filed by the government, Jean Ping and 15 NGOs following the deadly post-election violence of September 2016.

There was violence after President Ali Bongo was declared winner in the August 2016 elections. The country’s parliament was razed by fire and hundreds of protesters were arrested.