Gabon has officially launched his National Electronic Identity (CINE). Gabonese citizens will now be able to apply for and obtain a national digital identity.
Details
The Libreville government has announced plans to make the national ID a document to be used for travel within the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) – the economic and political bloc that groups six countries in Central Africa.
Cards can be used as legal identities to carry out any useful everyday transaction, including banking services and administrative procedures.
Zoom out
National ID cards were first issued in Gabon in 2013 and the government has been trying to restart the process ever since.
Gabon began plans for a biometric national registry to issue secure national identity cards to citizens in 2012. The project was then awarded to the French company Gemalto, which is now known as Thales Digital Identity Security.
However, the implementation was delayed for many years due to different problems.
The Gabonese government commissioned the Belgian company Semlex to issue the identity cards, but this phase of the process also did not work out as the contract was reportedly terminated.
According to a January report by Radio France International (RFI), Thales takes over the contract and plans are progressing to set up the equipment and train the operational staff.
Between the lines
CINE cards will only be issued in Libreville for now with plans to issue cards in all police stations across the country.
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