Footballer Lionel Messi has been accused by activists of endorsing a central African “dictatorship” that has failed to halt the ritual murder of children.
The Barcelona striker and children’s rights advocate visited Gabon last month to take part in a ceremony at one of the venues for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
The US-based Human Rights Foundation said that Messi “displayed enthusiastic support” for Ali Bongo, who was elected president of Gabon in 2009 in polls that triggered days of rioting and opposition complaints of fraud. He succeeded his father Omar Bongo, who had a tight grip on power in the oil-rich state from 1967 until his death nearly 42 years later.
