20110730
Reuters
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon has ordered the dissolution of one of the Central African country's main opposition groupings after one of its leaders proclaimed himself president in a mock swearing-in ceremony held last January.

The country's State Council body rejected an appeal against the move by the National Union (UN), whose executive secretary Andre Mba Obame conducted the ceremony in protest at what he says was the rigged 2009 election victory of Ali Bongo Ondimba.

In a ruling published late on Thursday, the State Council said the grouping was "at least complicit" in Mba Obame's action, for which he faces a judicial investigation.

The National Union had argued the grouping was not responsible for the ceremony. Its president, Zacharie Myboto, said after the ruling that the move to dissolve the UN was "a step towards negating democracy" in the country.

Bongo succeeded his late father Omar Bongo after beating Mba Obame and other rivals in a 2009 poll. Despite opposition protests of alleged irregularities, Bongo swiftly gained international recognition as Gabon's president.

Gabon's opposition remains fragmented. Pierre Mamboundou, who came runner-up to Bongo in 2009, announced this month he considers his UPG party a "partner" of the ruling majority with possible ambitions to enter the coalition.

Bongo is seeking to diversify the local economy from the oil which sustained it for decades but which has declined since a peak production of 370,000 barrels per day to around 220,000 to 240,000 bpd today.