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Tripoli, March 19: One of the main hotels in Gabon’s capital Libreville, the Okoume Palace, has been bought for 12 billion . . .[restrict]CFA francs ($24 million) from the Libyan African Investment Company (Laico) by the local Wali Gabon Hotels Resorts. It is to be managed by the Rezidor hotel group.
Also known as the Intercontinental or Laico, the hotel was bought in a move backed by the Gabonese government according to local officials.
The 330 room-hotel is to undergo $40-million renovation as a result of which it will be transformed into two hotels, a Radisson Blu 5-star and a 3-star Park Inn.
There has been no statement from Laico as to whether it approved the sale or was forced into it.
Gabon was one of the first African countries to recognize the NTC. As a member of the UN Security Council a year ago, it voted in favour of the imposition of the no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. [/restrict]
