In an unofficial speech to his foreign allies, the deposed president of Gabon, Ali Bongo, acknowledged that a coup had been carried out in his nation.
In a 51-second video posted on social media, Bongo is shown in a room in the presidential palace pleading with his friends to’make noise’ against his detention, which happened after the military declared his departure in the early hours of Wednesday, August 30.
He also acknowledged that he is alone at the White House because his wife and children are both being held somewhere else.
“My name is Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon. I am sending a message to all the friends of all the friends that we have all over the world, to tell them to make noise, to make noise.
“The people here have arrested me and my family, my son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I am at the residence. Nothing is happening. I don’t know what is going on.
“So I am telling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really. Thank you,” his address read.
His well-liked son, Valentin Bongo Ondimba, has reportedly been detained by the junta on suspicion of embezzlement and, in other stories, treason.
After the junta announced that Bongo, who had been in power for 14 years, had been removed from office, hundreds flocked to the streets of Libreville, the country’s capital, to join in the celebration.
