Gloria Mika, the supermodel, is campaigning for free and fair elections in her native Gabon
The 29 year-old, who is the face of L'Oreal, the cosmetics manufacturer, has spent the last few weeks drumming up support for her "Guardian Angels for Gabon" campaign, which is calling for an end to the Bongo family's rule of the West African nation.
Omar Bongo, Gabon's longest standing president, died in June after more than four decades in office. The nation will choose his successor on August 30, and Mika believes a civil war is likely if his son, Ali Bongo, seizes control.
Wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan "Let the candidates be fair players... Let the people of Gabon be real winners" the supermodel said: "It's time to show everyone that we are moving on. Having a democratic and transparent transition in Gabon would send a strong message to Africa."
Gabon was one of the four territories of French Equatorial Africa that became independent on August 17 1960. The nation formally became a democracy in 1991, but Bongo kept an authoritarian grip on the reins of power, crushing opposition parties and restricting the media, according to experts at London's Chatham House.
Mika, who left the country with her Greek mother and Gabonese father when she was 16, intends to use her fame to "make some noise" about election fraud before the vote to replace him.
Source by:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Source by:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk
