Gabon election raises fears of ritual killings

By Antoine Lawson

LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - When the body of 13-year-old Ralph Edang N'na was found drained of blood and with gaping wounds in his genitals, chest and neck last month, many in Gabon thought it was politicians who had ordered his killing.

The murder of children and young adults, whose organs are eaten or used to make magical amulets, has increased in recent years in the oil-rich central African nation. Campaigners say some Gabonese politicians use the black magic rituals to boost their chances of winning lucrative government posts.

With elections to local municipal councils due on April 27, many fear a spate of gruesome child murders.

Every week, mutilated bodies are discovered in the capital Libreville, despite police patrols, and streets quickly empty after nightfall. Anxious parents are keeping a close watch around schools to prevent children from being snatched.

"It's before elections and ministerial reshuffles that the vilest crimes are committed and the capital empties of certain kinds of politicians who go to the interior to carry out witchcraft," said pastor Francois Bibang, a member of the Association to Fight Ritual Crimes (ALCR).

In ritual killings, which still take place in several African countries, people, often children, are killed to obtain body parts and blood in the belief they will bring social success and political power.

The ALCR says that in February alone there were 12 such killings in Gabon.

"Unfortunately, this practice seems to be spreading again in Gabon," said Jean-Elvis Ebang Ondo, who founded ALCR after his 12-year-old son was kidnapped, killed and mutilated in 2005.

The government set up a National Observatory for the Rights of Children in November 2006 to implement the U.N. charter on children's rights, enshrining the right to health, education and protection from abuse.

Gabon, with just 1.6 million people, is one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producers but most of its population continue to live in poverty, while members of a rich elite drive shiny new cars along Libreville's sea front boulevard.

Omar Bongo, the world's longest-serving president, has ruled the country since 1967 and used the oil funds to weave a web of patronage which has created bitter competition for lucrative political jobs.

Ondo condemned "the silence of the state" and called on residents to "fight off these assassins who sow terror in the heart of Gabonese society".

After a penal code approved in January omitted any mention of ritual crimes, Ondo called on the government to find out how many people had been killed in this way.

"SPARE PARTS"

But no clear figures exist for how many children and teenagers are slain in ritual killings in Gabon.