Gabon's authorities said they have begun an investigation into potential "sabotage" which brought power cuts at a thermal power plant in Libreville aimed at "terrorising the population" and "discrediting" the transitional government.
"This criminal act has caused major power cuts and has seriously disrupted the energy supply of Greater Libreville," transitional government (CTRI) spokesperson Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi said late on Tuesday in a televised statement following the incident at the Alenakiri plant south of the capital.
"An investigation was immediately opened to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators and instigators," he said, denouncing "a strategy carefully orchestrated by enemies of change."
Recent weeks have seen a number of power cuts feeding growing discontent among Gabonese angered at being regularly deprived of electricity supplies through scheduled blackouts known as "load shedding."
Fuelled discontent
Transitional president General Brice Oligui Nguema has promised to improve the situation.
Despite the government's efforts to do so, the outages have fuelled discontent in the run-up to a presidential election scheduled for April 12.
A demonstration against the failures of the debt-laden and scandal-tainted national water and electricity company (SEEG) planned for last Saturday was banned.
The firm faces criticism for repeated malfunction of the electricity network, combined with two scandals linked to trafficking of false meters and misappropriation of revenue.
'Attempt at sabotage'
Earlier this month an online influencer was detained after broadcasting images shot inside a hospital emergency department plunged into darkness by a long power cut.
He was provisionally released on Tuesday, according to his lawyer Jean Paul Moumbembe.
"The President of the Transition... wishes to stress that it will not tolerate any attempt at manipulation, sabotage, or destabilisation" and "warns all those who in the shadows are working to sow chaos and division, they will be identified and punished with all the rigour of the law," Colonel Manfoumbi said in his Tuesday statement.
He also confirmed the April 12 election date – less than two years since the coup which brought General Nguema to power.
Nguema has yet to confirm if he will stand for a seven-year presidential mandate.
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