January 27, 2011 9:40:48 PM
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* Security forces use tear gas, dozens injured
* AU voices concern over spate of African crises
* Bongo sees at least 5.5 percent growth in 2011
(Adds Bongo quotes, growth forecast paragraphs 6-7)
By Phal Gualbert Mezui Ndong
LIBREVILLE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Gabon security forces fired tear gas at hundreds of anti-government protesters in the capital on Thursday, witnesses said, two days after an opposition leader declared himself president.
The usually sleepy central African oil exporter has been troubled since a 2009 election won by Ali Bongo Odimba, but which the main opposition group -- inspired by power struggles in Tunisia and Ivory Coast -- is insisting was rigged.
Hundreds of supporters of opposition leader Andre Mba Obame, who declared himself president on Tuesday and formed a rival government, gathered outside the local United Nations offices to demand recognition of Mba Obame as president.
Security forces clashed with the group early on Thursday, firing tear gas into the crowd and injuring dozens, according to several of the protesters interviewed by Reuters. Police officials were not immediately available.
"I am the president of Gabon and people expect certain things from me," Bongo told reporters at an event in the southern province of Nyanga.
"At the end of my term, the Gabonese alone will decide whether I should stay or go, not just anyone who happens to have woken up one morning," he said, adding he expected 2011 economic growth to at least match the 5.5 percent reached last year.
Gabon, one of the few sub-Saharan countries with a Eurobond, is battling to diversify its economy as its oil riches run out. Earlier, authorities suspended television broadcaster TV+, owned by Mba Obame, after it aired his swearing-in ceremony, according to a statement read over state radio.
The African Union said on Thursday it was concerned by a growing trend of elections and governance crises across Africa.
"The President of the Commission, Jean Ping, calls on all political actors in Gabon (...) to exercise restraint," it said in a release, adding Mba Obame's self-declaration as president threatened peace and stability.
"HISTORY ON THE MARCH"?
Mba Obame this week cited Ivory Coast and Tunisia during a rally, saying "history was on the march".
Ivory Coast incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down despite U.N.-certified results showing a Nov. 28 poll was won by Alassane Ouattara, who has declared himself president.
An uprising in Tunisia this month led to the toppling of former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
In a sign that leaders elsewhere in Africa were watching events in Tunisia closely, Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade said he did not expect to suffer the same fate as Ben Ali as protests over chronic power cuts there grew.
"There are wicked, jealous and hypocritical people who wish and pray that what happened in some countries like Tunisia will happen in Senegal. But my marabouts are stronger than their marabouts," he said this week, referring to religious leaders in the region believed to have supernatural powers.
Bongo's election in 2009 allowed him to take over from his father Omar and led to days of rioting across the country as opponents accused him of vote-rigging.
Final results put Bongo first with 41.79 percent, veteran opposition figure Pierre Mamboundou second with 25.66 percent and Mba Obame third with 25.33 percent. (Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Myra MacDonald)
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