Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:
The DREF now being revised was expected to be completed on 21 September 2016. It has been 90 percent spent. The only remaining activities were 1. A lessons learnt exercise and 2. A finance control and closure exercise by Central Africa office in Yaoundé. Given the developments in the field and the additional needs expressed by the Gabonese Red Cross - assessed by ICRC and IFRC - this DREF revision is extending the timeframe of the operation for an additional two months. The operation will be completed on 21 November 2016, with a Final Report due by 21 February 2017. This DREF revision also revises the Plan of Action (PoA) and budget.
The revised PoA includes activities in the sectors of non-food items distribution, psychosocial support to Gabonese Red Cross volunteers and staff, and logistics. The lessons learned workshop that was planned in the initial DREF is maintained and will be conducted at the end of the operation.
The revised DREF targets an estimated 2,500 to 5,000 people – based on the worst case scenario designed in the elections contingency plan of the Gabonese Red Cross. At this time, it is very difficult to define a concrete number of beneficiaries as the situation is evolving. The budget of the operation is revised from CHF 41,854 to CHF 257,240 to reflect the new PoA. With no Participating NS (PNS) in the country, the Gabonese Red Cross can only rely on ICRC and IFRC as Movement partners for this operation. During several joint Movement meetings, the ICRC identified the areas that they will support (RFL, IT/telecom, medical supplies) of an amount approximately equivalent to the one provided by IFRC. The needs provided to by ICRC are not included in this DREF revision.
A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
Learning from the country’s troubled election history, the Gabon Red Cross anticipated social unrest associated with the 2016 presidential elections – skirmishes between opposition supporters and those of the incumbent President started occurring in July 2016 during the electoral campaign.
In June 2016, two months before the elections, the National Society (NS) started working on a contingency plan with support from ICRC and coordination with IFRC. A CHF 41,854 DREF allocation and IFRC’s Yaoundé Central Africa office technical support, enabled the NS to train and equip its emergency teams. Two simulation exercises - one in Libreville and the other in Port-Gentil – were conducted. The funds also facilitated the purchase and dispatching of first-aid kits from Yaoundé, Cameroon to Libreville, Gabon by road. In addition, Gabonese Red Cross volunteers were trained on first aid techniques, which they have been using since 31 August 2016 when the provisionary results of the elections were announced and the violence erupted.
The presidential elections in Gabon took place on 27 August 2016. The provisionary results of the elections were announced by the Interior Minister on 31 August around 16h00 local time, presenting the incumbent President as the winner. This announcement was followed by heated debates at the national electoral commission (CENAP), in particular about suspicious results from the Haut-Ogoué province where turnout was allegedly 99.93 percent and the incumbent President receiving 95.3 percent of the votes. Claiming fraud, the Vice-President of the electoral commission, who represents the opposition, resigned shortly before the announcement of the provisional results.
Representatives of the opposition in the electoral commission abstained from voting during the secret ballot to validate the results. Immediately after this announcement, the main opposition leader who had claimed victory before the announcement, rejected the results. Shortly after, violent clashes were reported in the cities of Libreville and Port-Gentil with opposition members seen marching in protest in the cities of Mouila, Lambarene, Koula-Moutou and Oyem. Besides clashes with police forces, angry protesters looted, destroyed and burned both private and public houses and buildings, including those hosting the National Assembly, the Senate, and the headquarters of the National health and social insurance fund of the Estuaire province. In addition, there was looting and burning of vehicles and several commercial places in Libreville and Port-Gentil.
Disorder and social unrest continued until 6 September in many places in the country, resulting in at least 15 deaths as reported by several sources, including authorities, UN agencies and Gabon Red Cross. On day four following the announcement of the results, the main market of the Bitam Prefecture, a locality close to the border with Cameroon, was burned down by protesters.
On 8 September the main opposition leader submitted an appeal to the Constitutional Court, requesting a polling station-level recount of all votes in the contested Haut-Ogoué province. He also requested the presence of international observers during the recounting of votes. The ruling by the Constitutional Court – accused of serving the incumbent - should not last more than two weeks. In parallel, the Gabonese Minister of Foreign Affairs announced the indefinite postponement of the previously planned visit of an African Union (AU) high-level mission. These two decisions are likely to further frustrate a significant percentage of the Gabonese population and fuel further violence. Given the situation and the risks associated with it, a high alert level is maintained by Gabon Red Cross as well as ICRC and IFRC.