Gabon military officers say they have seized power after election
Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday and had put President Ali Bongo under house arrest, stepping in minutes after the Central African state’s election body announced he had won a third term.
The officers who said they represented the armed forces declared on television that the election results were cancelled, borders were closed and state institutions were dissolved, after a tense vote without international observers that was set to extend the Bongo family’s more than half century in power, Reuters reported.
Hundreds of people celebrated the military’s intervention, while France, Gabon’s former colonial ruler which has troops stationed in the African nation, condemned the coup.
The Kremlin also said Wednesday it was concerned by events in Gabon, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying, “We are deeply concerned about the situation in Gabon. We are closely following what is going on there”.
A jobless 27-year-old who joined crowds on Libreville’s streets, said”I am marching today because I am joyful. After almost 60 years, the Bongos are out of power”.
In another statement, the officers said they had detained Bongo, who took over in 2009 from his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967. They said they had arrested the president’s son, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and others for corruption and treason.
Opponents say the family has done little to share the state’s oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people. Violent unrest had broken out after Bongo’s disputed 2016 election win and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.
If successful, the Gabon coup would be the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. The latest one, in Niger, was in July. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s.
The Gabon officers, calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, said the country faced “a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis”. They said the Aug. 26 vote was not credible.
It was not clear who was leading the coup, but television images showed a man in fatigues and a green beret held aloft by soldiers shouting “Oligui president”, a possible reference to Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of Gabon’s Republican Guard.
Despite the brief sound of gunfire in the capital shortly after the officers made their first announcement, the streets of Libreville were calm until celebrations erupted. Police officers fanned out to guard major city intersections.
There was no immediate comment from Gabon’s government.