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| | Country and Regional Reports |
 | | President Omar Albert-Bernard Bongo, sub-Saharan Africa's second-longest-ruling leader and one of France's staunchest allies in the region, was declared the winner of the December 1997 elections, further consolidating his Democratic Party of Gabon's grip on power. |
 | | The polls, which virtually eliminated all opposition parties from participation in government, were marred by serious irregularities, the manipulation of state broadcast media, and crackdowns on the independent media for publishing opposition party platforms. |
 | | On August 12, Michel Ongoundou-Loundah, Raphael Ntoutoume Nkoghe, and Pulchérie Beaumel, respectively publication director, editor in chief, and reporter for the private weekly newspaper La Griffe, were each sentenced to an eight-month prison term and fined CFA 3,000,000 (US$5,000) in damages payable to René Morvan, director general of the state-owned Air Gabon. |
| www.cpj.org /attacks98/1998/Africa/Gabon.html (225 words) |
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