Opposition paper says officials detain 20 of its staff

Gabonese officials detained 20 employees at the headquarters of the Echos du Nord opposition newspaper on Thursday and took them away for questioning, staff at the paper told Reuters. OPEC member Gabon has faced international scrutiny, including from former colonial power France, since President Ali Bongo was declared winner of a disputed Aug. 27 election. […]

Gabonese officials detained 20 employees at the headquarters of the Echos du Nord opposition newspaper on Thursday and took them away for questioning, staff at the paper told Reuters.
OPEC member Gabon has faced international scrutiny, including from former colonial power France, since President Ali Bongo was declared winner of a disputed Aug. 27 election.
Echos du Nord’s Editor-in-Chief Desire Ename said that officials from Gabon’s DGDI, a government department that according to its website “acts preventively against any threat interior or exterior” had taken the action.
“The employees were verbally threatened and seized and we now have no means of communicating with them,” he told Reuters by telephone from Paris, where he said he had moved in 2014 for safety reasons.