3 Illegal immigrants die in Gabon detention

Three illegal immigrants have died in detention in northern Gabon possibly because of cholera, health authorities said, amid claims of abuse of people expelled from an irregular gold mine. Ten illegal immigrants in detention were brought to a health centre at Bitam, near the border with Cameroon, on Thursday, one of whom was already dead, Health Minister Flavien Nzengui Nzoundou said. Two others, from Mali and Guinea, died in the hour after they arrived, he said Thursday. Another man was in a coma and the remainder were under observation. "Contrary to certain claims of mistreatment, abuse or torture, it is more likely a case of public health," the minister said, adding the cause could be cholera. The detentions were part of a mass expulsion of illegal immigrants at an irregular gold panning site at Minkebe National Park in northern Gabon this month, another Gabon government official said. A Cameroon official has said at least two people died when around 2,300 were driven from the mine and across the border into Cameroon this month. Gabon authorities have denied allegations of abuse. Burkina Faso national Fulbert Yougbari told AFP by telephone from Bitam that he was among a group kept in a crowded cell in which two people died. "When we asked for water, they beat us. This morning they two out two bodies," he said Thursday.