After placing newly-reelected President Ali Bongo Ondimba behind house arrest and announcing their Republican guard chief as the country’s leader on Wednesday, mutinous soldiers in Gabon accused him of treason and vast fraud during his lengthy tenure over the oil-rich country of Central Africa.
Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema has been “unanimously” chosen to serve as president of a transitional committee, according to a statement made by the coup’s organizers that was shown on state television in Gabon. Bongo’s cousin Oligui was the winner of the country’s most recent presidential election earlier on Wednesday, ending Bongo and his late father’s 55-year tenure.
Bongo urged people to “make noise” in favor of him in a video that he recorded while in prison at his home. Instead of protesting the dynasty that was accused of accumulating fortune from the nation’s resource richness while many of its residents struggled, the masses that flocked to the capital’s streets cheered the coup.
Thank you, army. Yollande Okomo stood in front of Republican guard members who had assisted in staging the takeover and remarked, “Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.
On Thursday, according to the leaders of the coup, there will be no restrictions on movement between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. local time.
“Our wonderful country must retain peace and tranquillity, the president of the transition urges. We will ensure the peace, stability, and dignity of our beloved Gabon at the start of a new age, Lt. Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi stated on state television on Wednesday.
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.
Since assuming office in 2009 following the passing of his father, Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, who controlled the nation for 41 years, there has been significant dissatisfaction with his administration. In 2019, a different band of rebellious troops made an attempt at a coup, but they were soon crushed.
Although the former French colony is an associate member of OPEC, its oil wealth resides in the hands of a few people, and the World Bank estimates that 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in 2020. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, it earned $6 billion from oil exports 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.
According to a spokesman for the coup leaders, Bongo’s “unpredictable, irresponsible governance” ran the possibility of bringing about total instability in the nation. The coup organizers later released a statement in which they claimed that the president’s immediate family members had been detained for “high betrayal of state institutions, huge embezzlement of public funds, (and) international financial embezzlement.”
Analysts cautioned that the takeover ran the risk of causing instability and may have more to do with conflicts among the governing class than efforts to better the lives of common Gabonese.
The Bongo family has a history of “systematic misappropriation of state revenues,” thus the most recent events “should be viewed with extreme caution, as they offer no assurance of good governance & democratic transition,” according to a statement from Sherpa.
The latest in a string of coups that have occurred in West and Central Africa in recent years, the coup took place approximately a month after mutinous soldiers in Niger overthrew the democratically elected government there. According to Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at risk assessment company Verisk Maplecroft, the troops in Gabon may have been motivated by the impunity the putschists were able to enjoy.
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.
He said in English, “I’m calling you to create noise, to make noise, to really make noise.” BTP Advisers, a communications agency that assisted the president with polls for the election, shared the video with The Associated Press.
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 as well as 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 postponed on Wednesday, according to a man who answer the phone at the airport, while the private intelligence agency Ambrey reported that all activities at the nation’s main port in Libreville had been suspended. Several French businesses announced that they would cease operations.
Speaking on behalf of the French government, Olivier Veran said on Wednesday that France “condemns the military coup that is taking place in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments.”
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.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said that the events in Gabon were being monitored with “great concern.” He argued that it was too soon to declare it a “domino effect” or a trend in the continent’s military takeovers.
Bola Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, referred to a “contagion of autocracy we are seeing spreading across our continent,” in a statement released by his office. According to the report, he was meeting with other head of state leaders and the African Union, whose panel denounced the coup and called for a return to “democratic constitutional order.”