A group of hackers claim to have shut down the website of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament in protest at organisers holding it in the "dictatorship" of Gabon.

Firefighters today battled a blaze at the heart of Libreville, Gabon’s capital, the latest incident in a nation already reeling from post-election violence.

Gabon’s main opposition parties demanded that authorities conduct a recount of a disputed election the government said was won by the son of the country’s long-ruling president.