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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A group of senior military officers in Gabon said Wednesday they would seize power in the Central African country. The results of a presidential election were overturned shortly after the electoral commission announced that President Ali Bongo had won another term.
The Bongo family has ruled Gabon, an oil-rich country of about 2 million people, for more than 55 years and is accused by critics of abusing their position to amass enormous wealth. In a video on state television, senior officials said borders were closed and state institutions, including the Senate, National Assembly and Constitutional Court, were dissolved.
“In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” an official said as he read a joint statement on national television, surrounded by about a dozen others in military uniform. “We call on the population to remain calm and calm.”
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According to media reports, shots were reported in the capital, Libreville, minutes after the coup was declared.
The apparent coup in Gabon marks the latest in a notable series across West and Central Africa, including the recent military takeover in Niger that has become a red line for democratically elected West African leaders. Since 2021 there have also been attempted coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad and Sudan.
In Gabon, officials called themselves the “Committee for Transition and Institutional Restoration” and said “irresponsible, unpredictable governance” had led to deteriorating social cohesion. Officials said in the video that they respected Gabon’s “commitments to the international community.”
Neither Bongo nor his government responded to the news early Wednesday, and the president’s whereabouts were not immediately clear.
Bongo, who was elected in 2009, and his father Omar Bongo, who previously ruled for 41 years, were key allies of France, Gabon’s former colonial power, in a region where anti-French sentiment is growing. Bongo only met French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in June.
Compared to Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, where fears of a spiral of violence linked to Islamic extremism fueled coups, Gabon is peaceful and considered relatively stable. But recent elections, including the August 26 vote in which Bongo won a third term, have been marked by violence and allegations of rigging.
In 2019, the Gabon government thwarted an attempted coup against its president.
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European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that bloc foreign ministers would discuss developments in Gabon, which he said were part of a “very difficult situation” in the region, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
“Ministers,” he said at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Toledo, Spain, “need to think carefully about what is going on there and how we can improve our policy towards these countries… This is a big issue.” for Europe.”
Bisset reported from London.