In Libreville, illicit bars where friends can get together for a drink or two are beginning to appear.

“We know that there are thousands of people in the markets, but they are not stopped from going there, so why the bar, why the bars where no more than two, three or five people are going to meet?”

Housing is cramped, poorly ventilated, so the bar is a place of escape and sometimes even an outlet according to Jean-Emery Etoughé-Efé, sociologist at the National Centre for Scientific Research of Gabon.

Far from being just a place of entertainment, these illicit bars are also a place of networking.

With more than 4,000 cases of coronavirus in Gabon, illicit bars continue to serve a clientele who see no reason for bars to remain shut.