Oil firms operating in Gabon will be banned from flaring gas in 2010, the government said in a statement. Exports of unprocessed timber will also be banned next year in an effort to increase employment by making logging companies mill and add value to wood locally, according to a statement issued after a cabinet meeting late on Thursday.

Opposition parties in Gabon have rejected the terms of a re-count of votes from last month's controversial presidential poll. Activists, who alleged widespread vote rigging, were angered after a court ruled that opposition observers would not be allowed to oversee the re-count.

A coalition of candidates who lost to Gabonese president-elect Ali Ben Bongo in last month's election lodged a complaint with the country's top court, the politicians said on Thursday. The group, which includes veteran opposition leader Pierre Mamboundou and former Interior Minister Andre Mba Obame, both of whom scored just over 25 percent, accuse Ben Bongo of rigging the poll to succeed his father as president.

Gabon has barred opposition leaders from leaving the country following recent riots over claims of fraud in last month's presidential election. One defeated candidate said he had been prevented from flying to Ivory Coast. A minister said the ban would last while the violence was investigated.

Following the election of Ali Ben Bongo to the Gabonese presidency, Tidiane Kassé considers the reaction of commentators in the African press to the victory. With the death of his father and long-time dictator Omar Bongo in June, many regard Ali Ben Bongo's election as the mere continuation of the Bongo dynasty, Kassé notes, a continuation decidedly in the interests of the French former colonial power.

A night-time curfew has been declared in Gabon's Port Gentil after violence by opposition activists and attacks on French interests in the city. Earlier, opposition groups clashed with security forces in the capital, Libreville, after presidential election results declared Ali Bongo the winner. France, Gabon's former ruler, has told its 10,000 citizens to stay inside.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned what it called "Gabonese government censorship and restrictions on media coverage of the presidential election, including denial of accreditation to at least four international journalists". In a statement from its headquarters in New York, US, the CPJ said that prior to the election, Gabonese government authorities denied accreditations to international journalists from French media outlets, including international broadcaster France 24 and weekly L'Express, which were known for their probing coverage of late President Bongo's health and wealth.

Gabon is a sparsely populated country covered mostly in rainforest – just 1½ million people live here. That, and the fact that oil wealth has made per capita income higher in Gabon than most other African countries, are some of the reasons why its natural wonders are so well preserved. But the oil is running out and the government has started selling other mineral resources to foreign investors, which means destroying large tracts of forest.

The Spokesman of the Gabonese government, René Ndemezo Obiang, on Thursday said the country would go to the polls on 30 August to elect a new president following the death on 8 June of President Omar Bongo Ondimba

As Omar Bongo Ondimba, the Gabonese president who died at age 73 in Barcelona on Jun. 8, is buried in Franceville in the south-west of Gabon on Thursday, his 41-year-reign as absolute ruler of this oil-producing country of 1.5 million has received mixed reviews. In neighbouring Congo, a seven-day period of national mourning has been declared. Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso was closely aligned with Bongo; his daughter, Edith Lucie, was married to the Gabonese president at the time of her own death in March.

The speaker of the senate in Gabon has been sworn in as the country's interim head of state, following the recent death of President Omar Bongo. Under the constitution, Rose Francine Rogombe, an ally of Mr Bongo, must organise elections within 45 days. On Thursday, Mr Bongo's body will be repatriated from Spain where he had been undergoing medical treatment.

Reporters Without Borders has written to communication minister Laure Olga Gondjout and National Communication Council chairman Emmanuel Ondo Methogo voicing concern about the suspension of two Gabonese newspapers, Ezombolo and Le Nganga, and the warnings issued to Radio France Internationale (RFI) and the Canal Overseas Africa satellite TV service over their coverage of President Omar Bongo’s health.

As the very grave health condition of the 73 years old Gabonese President Omar Bongo is confirmed, speculations over his succession are growing in numbers. Will it be a family affair as in Togo, or will it be a coup like in Guinea?

Six relatively unknown grassroots activists from around the globe receive a moment in the spotlight when the Goldman Environmental Prize announces its list of annual recipients. The prize, now in its 20th year, is considered the Nobel Prize for the environment. Past recipients include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, former Brazilian environment minister Marina Silva, and Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was killed seven months after his recognition.

French authorities have frozen Gabon President Omar Bongo's bank accounts. The move comes after a Bordeaux court ordered President Bongo to return a payment made to him to release a jailed French businessman, Rene Cardona. The BBC's Charles Mayard in Paris says it is the first time French authorities have frozen the accounts of an acting head of state.

On Monday 12 January 2009 at 7pm, of the four Gabonese civil society activists – Grégory Ngbwa Mintsa, Marc Ona Essangui, Georges Mpaga and Gaston Asseko – who had been detained in Libreville since 30 and 31 December 2008, respectively, were released from jail. This release follows days of large-scale international mobilisation by both non-governmental groups and French authorities in Paris and Libreville.

The Rainforest Foundation UK demands the immediate release of the detained civil rights activists and journalists, arrested without charge by the Gabonese judicial police. On December 31, the Gabonese judicial police arrested the environmental and civil rights activist Marc Ona Essangui, president of Rainforest Foundation UK's partner organisation, Brainforest, and coordinator of the Publish What You Pay Coalition in Gabon.

“The current climate of fear is without precedent in recent years in Gabon and is indicative of President Omar Bongo’s readiness to hunt down all those who show too much interest in such subjects as the Bongo family’s possessions and the government’s handling of public funds,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The persecution of journalists must stop at once and the detainees much be released, as they have not been charged.”

Habib Papy Boubendji, also known as Habib Bibalou, a journalist with the satirical weekly Le Nganga, was badly beaten by soldiers inside the presidential compound in Libreville on the night of 5 December, Reporters Without Borders has learned from several sources. “This incident could easily have ended tragically, with one more name being added to the grim list of journalists who have ‘disappeared’ after falling into the clutches of an African president’s bodyguards”, the press freedom organisation said.

China will lend Gabon 37.2 billion CFA francs on concessionary terms to part-fund a hydroelectric dam scheme, the central African country's presidency said in a statement published on Saturday. The "Grand Poubara" hydro scheme is linked to a $3 billion Chinese-led project to mine iron ore at Belinga, which is a key plank in government efforts to wean Gabon's middle-income economy away from dependence on declining oil production.