Gabon's sports minister has assured that the venues for the Africa Cup of Nations are ready ahead of the tournament, despite violence that erupted after the recent presidential election.

Africa Cup of Nations hosts Gabon are again held to a 1-1 draw by Burkina Faso in Libreville. Qualification for the quarter-finals will now be decided in the last round of group games on Sunday.

In eastern Cameroon, over 20,000 hectares of virgin forest are disappearing every year due to logging, forcing the indigenous Baka pygmies out of the jungle they rely on for survival.

Gabon's president in Riyadh hospital for severe fatigue - government spokesman

Military officers in Gabon staged an apparent coup attempt early on Monday (January 7), seizing the state radio station and declaring their dissatisfaction with President Ali Bongo, who is recovering from a stroke in Morocco.

Gabon coup attempt: rebel chief arrested and two soldiers killed

Former Defense Minister Rose Christiane Ossouka Raponda has been promoted to prime minister, making her the first woman to hold the role in Gabon's history.

Since April, Gabon has been under a health state of emergency. The Central African country is facing a major economic hit as a result of Covid-19 lockdown measures and the fall in oil prices. The scars from this unprecedented crisis could remain on Port-Gentil, its oil capital, for a while. Businesses, shops, transport, tourism and other sectors in the country's economic hub are all struggling. Port Gentil has lost millions of euros over the last six months and is relying on public investment to survive. Our team reports.

The mats are falling apart, the safety ropes have snapped and the acrobatic nets are long gone. Gabon's only circus troupe -- and its only circus school -- is facing ruin. Demand for circus shows was dwindling even before the pandemic hit, a disaster that has cemented the troupe's problems.

Dozens of children live and work in sweltering heat in the Mindoube landfill in the Gabonese capital Libreville, searching for copper or aluminium items they can then resell. In Gabon, one of Africa's largest oil producers and one of the richest per capita in the region, one-third of the population lived below the poverty line in 2017, says the World Bank. "There are a lot of children here who...spend all their time in the landfill," says an activist.

In this edition, hundreds of Gabonese peacekeepers are being withdrawn from CAR following the latest sex abuse allegations. Gabon says that the most recent accusation is exceptionally serious. Also, dozens of civic groups in Uganda have been suspended. Many human rights workers say it is part of a pattern of repression. And, South Africa’s largest rhino breeder is pushing to sell horns he trims legally off his animals to keep poachers at bay.

Leading Gabon football coach accused of raping young players, president demands probe. A former coach for Gabon's under-17 football team, Patrick Assoumou Eyi, sexually abused young players in his care, according to a report on Thursday in British daily The Guardian.