Two oppositionists may have rallied to presidential candidate Jean Ping at the last minute on 16 August but that won't be enough to stop President Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba from walking away with victory at the poll on 27 August...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The former Chairman of the African Union Commission  Jean Ping  left in 2014 and last month  the PDG's Héritage et modernité faction  led by Alexandre Barro Chambrier and Jonathan Ignoumba  was expelled...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     His defiance was evident in the place that he chose to make his declaration: a point midway between the oil city of Port-Gentil  an opposition stronghold  and Omboué  home town of the former Foreign Minister and later Chairman of the African Union Commission  Jean Ping  who now aspires to be leader of the opposition and its presidential candidate (AC Vol 55 No 18  Electioneering begins)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Meanwhile  the oppositionist and former African Union Commission Chairman  Jean Ping  faces criticism that he does not offer a real alternative to the ruling Parti démocratique gabonais (PDG) because he was a top political baron under the four-decade 'big man' rule by the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba (AC Vol 55 No 4  Ping's pop at Ali)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	    The former Chairman of the African Union Commission  Jean Ping  has broken his studied silence on Gabon's domestic politics...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 54 No 3 | 
            - AFRICAN UNION
	     Certainly  she has tried hard to reconcile the Francophone supporters of Gabon’s Jean Ping – against whom she won a hard-fought election victory in July – to the South African leadership of the organisation...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Paris is pushing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to appoint Jean Ping  outgoing Chairman of the African Union Commission  as his Special Envoy for the Sahel region  a new position that could turn into head of an Amisom-type presence in Mali...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 53 No 19 | 
            - SOUTH AFRICA
	     Even his ex-wife  the veteran politician Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma  took a swipe at him at her farewell as Home Affairs Minister  en route to Addis Ababa to take over the chair of the African Union Commission from Gabon’s Jean Ping (AC Vol 52 No 15  Dlamini-Zuma takes charge)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
            Vol 53 No 17 | 
            - SOUTH AFRICA
	     She defeated the incumbent  Gabon’s Jean Ping  prompting criticism that South Africa had used its position as a leading financial contributor to control the choice of the AU’s top job (See A diplomatic coup in Addis)...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     From further afield  Gabon's Jean Ping (who chairs the AU Commission until his successor Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma takes over in October) are to be joined by Uganda's Yoweri Museveni and Kenya's Premier Raila Odinga...