The Gabonese soldiers announce that they have taken power
PARIS (Reuters) – French mining group Eramet said on Wednesday it was pausing all operations in Gabon after a group of senior Gabonese army officers announced they had seized power.
“As of this morning, all Comilog and Setrag operations have been shut down and rail traffic has been suspended,” a spokesman for the group told Reuters.
Comilog (Ogooué Mining Company) is a manganese producer majority owned by Eramet and Setrag (Transgabonais Operating Company) a rail transport company operating the Gabonese railway network.
Eramet lost 8.39% at 07:11 GMT on the Paris Bourse after the announcement of the suspension of its activities in Gabon.
A group of senior Gabonese army officers announced on television on Wednesday that they had seized power due to lack of credibility in the recent general elections, shortly after Ali Bongo’s victory in the presidential election was announced.
Earlier, the president of the Gabonese Election Center (CGE) announced that Ali Bongo had won a third term in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote.
(Sybille report from La Hamaide, written by Tangi Salaün and Zhifan Liu, edited by Kate Entringer)