LIBREVILLE, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) will send 20 election observers during the Aug. 27 presidential elections in Gabon.
"As it has done in the past in member states organizing elections, ECCAS will deploy an electoral observer mission in Gabon," the bloc's secretary general Ahmad Allam-Mi said Thursday.
The mission will be led by ambassador Abou Moussa, a senior Chadian diplomat who previously worked for the United Nations in Libreville, the Gabonese capital.
"The key objective of ECCAS is evidently to monitor the elections to ensure they are free, transparent, fair and that they are conducted in a peaceful atmosphere," he affirmed.
Besides ECCAS, other international organizations such as the African Union, the European Union, and the International Organization of La Francophonie will monitor Gabon's forthcoming elections.
Gabon's incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba will compete against eleven other candidates, among them, former AU commission president Jean Ping.
