Mutinous troops in Gabon put the president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was pronounced the victor of the election on Saturday, under house arrest on Wednesday (Aug. 30), and then anointed their republican guard chief as the country’s leader.
In a statement broadcast on state television in Gabon, the coup’s organisers claimed that Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema had been “unanimously” elected as the head of a transitional committee. Bongo’s cousin is Oligui.
Bongo urged supporters to “make noise” in a video he recorded while being detained at home. However, the masses that flocked to the capital’s streets instead cheered the coup against a family that was allegedly making money off the nation’s resource wealth while many of its residents struggled.
“Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Yollande, standing in front of republican guard members who had helped stage the takeover.
Coup leaders extended a night-time curfew imposed after the August 26 election.
Gabonese will not be allowed to move freely from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The previous night-time curfew ran from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.
“The president of the transition insists on the need to maintain calm and serenity in our beautiful country … At the dawn of a new era, we will guarantee the peace, stability and dignity of our beloved Gabon,” Lt. Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi said on state TV Wednesday (Aug. 30).
- Bongo Clan
Previously serving as the late President Omar Bongo’s bodyguard was Oligui, the new military commander, according to Desire Ename, a journalist with the local media website Echos du Nord. Prior to leading the republican guard in 2019, Oligui also served as the head of the secret service.
There has been significant discontent with Ali Bongo Ondimba’s tenure, which has lasted two terms since he took office in 2009 following the death of his father, who controlled the nation for 41 years. In 2019, a different gang of rebellious troops attempted a coup but were promptly defeated.
The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few number of people, and in 2020, the World Bank reported that about 40% of Gabonese between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, its oil export earnings were $6 billion in 2022.
According to Sherpa, a French NGO committed to accountability, nine members of the Bongo family are currently the subject of an investigation in France, with some of them facing preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering, and other types of corruption. According to the group, investigators have connected the family to more than $92 million worth of assets in France, including two villas in Nice.
A spokesman for the coup leaders said that Bongo’s “unpredictable, irresponsible governance” risked leading the country into chaos. In a later statement, the coup leaders said people around the president had been arrested for “high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement.”
The Bongo family has been associated with “systematic misappropriation of state revenues,” but the latest events “should be viewed with great caution, as they offer no guarantee of good governance and democratic transition,” Sherpa said in a statement.
- Bongo Asking for Support
In the weekend elections, Albert Ondo Ossa, a former education minister and professor of economics, headed an opposition coalition against Bongo. Gunfire was heard in Libreville’s capital shortly after Bongo was named the winner. Later, a group of twelve uniformed troops announced their takeover of power on national television.
Although Libreville is a stronghold for the opposition, it wasn’t obvious how the coup was received in the countryside, where Bongo has historically enjoyed greater support.
In a video that showed him seated in a chair with a bookcase behind him, the president begged for help.
“I’m calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really,” he said in English. The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for the election.
According to Mark Pursey, the CEO of BTP Advisers, persons wearing Bongo had their phones taken away by troops soon after the video was made public. According to Pursey, Bongo’s son and communications director were detained at military headquarters.
According to spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the coup and urged military authorities to secure Bongo and his family’s safety.
Opposition leader Ossa told The Associated he was waiting for the situation to develop before making a statement.
In their declaration of loyalty, the mutinous officers promised to uphold “Gabon’s commitments to the national and international community.” However, the coup dared to threaten a collapse of the economy.
Flights were cancelled on Wednesday (August 30), according to a man who answered the phone at the airport, and the private intelligence group Ambrey reported that all activities at the nation’s principal port in Libreville had been suspended. Several French businesses announced that they will cease operations.
- International Reactions
The African Union commission condemned the coup and called for a return to “democratic constitutional order.”
The Kingdom of Morocco where Bongo sojourned during his recovery following a stroke in 2018 reacted as well.
Stressing the importance of “preserving stability”. Rabat said it «trusted the wisdom of the Gabonese nation, of its [leaders] and its institutions,” to make a way to “move forward with the utmost interest of the nation as a priority” to “safeguard the achievements that were gained and respond to the aspirations of the Gabonese people.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin called on: “all sides […] to proceed from the basic interests of the country and the people, resolve differences through dialogue, (and) restore normal order as soon as possible.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the events in Gabon were being followed with “great concern.” He said it was too early to call it part of a trend or a “domino effect” in military takeovers on the continent.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, however, cited a “contagion of autocracy we are seeing spread across our continent,” in a statement issued by his office. It said he was conferring with other heads of state and the A.U.
“France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments,” French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said Wednesday (Aug. 30).
With 400 soldiers stationed there for military training, France has maintained close political, economic, and military connections with Gabon. The U.S. Africa Command stated that aside from the U.S. Embassy, it has no other military stationed in the country of Central Africa.
Gabon, which was previously regarded as reasonably stable, has not experienced the Islamist bloodshed that has plagued Niger and two other West African nations ruled by military juntas.
