Gabon has officially launched its National Electronic Identity Card (CINE). Citizens of Gabon will now be able to apply for and obtain a national digital ID card.
Details
The government in Libreville has announced that it plans to make the national ID card a document that will be used for travel within the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) – the economic and political bloc grouping six countries in Central Africa.
The cards can be used as legal IDs to carry out any useful transaction daily, including banking services and administrative procedures.
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National ID cards were first issued to Gabonese in 2013 with the government attempting to restart the process since then.
Gabon initiated plans for a biometric national registry to issue secure national ID cards to citizens in 2012. The project then was awarded to French firm Gemalto, which is now known as Thales Digital Identity Security.
However, implementation was delayed for many years because of different problems.
The Gabon government contracted Belgian firm Semlex to issue the ID cards, but that phase of the process also did not work in the intended direction as the contract was reportedly terminated.
According to a January report by Radio France International (RFI), Thales is taking over the contract and plans are advancing in terms of setting up the equipment and training of operational personnel.
Between The Lines
The CINE cards will be issued only in Libreville for now with plans to issue cards in all police stations across the country.
Source: Biometric Udpates
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