Gabon army officers announce coup, put president under house arrest

LIBREVILLE – Military officers in oil-producing Gabon seized power on Wednesday, and put President Ali Bongo under house arrest after the Central African state’s election body announced that he had won a third term.

In an overnight television announcement, dozen senior officers appeared on television channel Gabon 24 to

declare that the election results were cancelled,

borders were closed and state institutions were dissolved. They said they represented all Gabon’s security and defence forces.

Hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital Libreville to celebrate in the morning following the overnight announcement, which appeared to have been filmed from the presidential palace, according to the television images.

In another statement read on national television, the military officers said they detained Mr Bongo, who took over in 2009 from his father Omar, whose family has ruled Gabon since 1967.

If successful, the 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 officers, calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, said Gabon was “undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis”, and that the Aug 26 election was not transparent or credible.

Gunfire was heard briefly in Libreville after the statement announcing the ousting of Mr Bongo, whose family has ruled the oil and manganese producer for more than half a century. But the streets were largely calm before celebrations erupted. Police officers guarded major city intersections.

There was no immediate comment from Gabon’s government.

Mr Bongo, 64, was last seen in public casting his vote on Saturday. He appeared in public before the vote looking healthier than previous rare and frail television appearances following a stroke in 2019.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said France, Gabon’s former colonial ruler, was following the situation closely.

The coup creates more uncertainty for France’s presence in the region. It has about 350 troops stationed in Gabon.

French forces were kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso after coups in those countries, amid a wave of anti-French sentiment, and the coup leaders in Niger have also ordered them to leave.

China’s Foreign Ministry called for the situation in Gabon to be resolved peacefully and said the personal safety of Mr Bongo, who visited China in April, should be ensured.

Restive region

Niger and other Sahel countries have been battling Islamist insurgencies that have eroded faith in democratic governments.

Gabon, which lies further south on the Atlantic coast, has not faced the same challenges, but a coup would be a further sign of democratic backsliding in the volatile region.

Discontent against the Bongo family’s 56-year grip on power has been growing in Gabon, an Opec member.

Violent unrest broke out after Mr Bongo’s 2016 election win, and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019, months after the president suffered a stroke abroad, raising doubts about his ability to rule.

“We think the soldiers will want to hang onto power and set up a national dialogue of some sort to draw up a new constitution, while they rid the bureaucracy of (Bongo’s) loyalists,” Mr Francois Conradie, leading political economist for Oxford Economics, wrote in a note.

Mr Bongo’s critics say the family has done little to channel Gabon’s oil and other wealth towards the population of some 2.3 million people, a third of whom live in poverty.

Gabon produces about 200,000 barrels of oil a day, mainly from depleting fields. International companies include France’s TotalEnergies and Anglo-French producer Perenco.

French miner Eramet, which has large manganese operations in Gabon, said it has halted operations.

There has been fears of unrest after the presidential, parliamentary and legislative elections, which saw Mr Bongo seeking a third term against 18 challengers.

His team rejected allegations of fraud.

But a lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts and the authorities’ decision to cut Internet service and impose a night-time curfew nationwide after the poll raised concerns about election transparency.

The officers said the state institutions they have dissolved include the government, Senate, national assembly, constitutional court and the election body.

After the officers’ announcement, Internet access appeared to be restored for the first time since Saturday’s vote.

The government has said the Web blackout and curfew were necessary to prevent the spread of fake news and to protect public safety.

The Gabonese Election Centre earlier on Wednesday said Mr Bongo won the election with 64.27 per cent of the vote and his main challenger, Mr Albert Ondo Ossa, had secured 30.77 per cent.

Mr Bongo succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009 and was re-elected in a disputed election in 2016. REUTERS