On August 31, 2026, Gabon marked a decade since the violent raid on Jean Ping’s campaign headquarters in Libreville, a pivotal and highly contested moment of the 2016 post-election turmoil.

Following the presidential election on August 27, 2016, which officially declared the incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba as the winner, the opposition coalition led by Jean Ping strongly contested the results. Amid soaring political tensions, security forces launched an assault on Jean Ping’s headquarters during the night of August 31 to September 1, 2016.

According to numerous eyewitness accounts and civil society organizations, this military intervention resulted in multiple deaths, injuries, arbitrary arrests, and forced disappearances. At the time, authorities justified the raid by claiming they were searching for individuals suspected of setting fire to the National Assembly who had reportedly taken refuge within the opposition’s campaign base.

A decade later: Remembrance and the fight for accountability

To mark this anniversary, the citizen coalition Tournons La Page Gabon (TLP-Gabon) has renewed its demands for truth and justice for the victims of these events. The organization points out that several critical questions remain unanswered:

Who authorized the assault?

What is the exact number of victims?

What official investigations have actually been carried out?

Where are the remains of the missing victims?

TLP-Gabon maintains that no lasting national reconciliation can occur without a transparent judicial resolution of these events. To honor those affected, they launched a commemorative campaign titled “10 years, 10 faces” to humanize the victims. A decade later, families and survivors continue to wait for justice. To discuss this issue, I welcome four guests:

• Virgilio Foumangoye, economist and sustainable development consultant.
• Marc Ona Essangui, current 5th vice-president of the Senate and former president of Tournons la Page Internationale.

Frédéric Samy Passalet, writer, essayist, and PhD in Francophone literature specializing in conflict prevention in Africa, who is also the author of the essay “Les marionnettes de Poutine en Afrique.”

• Rodolphe Chauvet, criminal defense lawyer at the Paris bar, collaborating with William Bourdon on the French legal aspects of this case.

To listen to the complete debate, please click on the image above.