The soldiers newly in power in Gabon are stepping up their initiatives. The head of the Committee for Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, continued his consultations this Friday. After the employers, after the religious leaders, it was the turn of the political class to confront the junta.
Published on: 09/01/2023 – 8:37 p.m
3 mins
With our correspondent in Libreville, Yves Laurent Goma
Despite his very busy schedule, the head of the Gabonese transition took time to listen to the leaders of the political parties making the trip. The meeting lasted four hours.
General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema was clear. The transition he is leading is an extraordinary regime. Therefore, he suggested that the functioning of political life also becomes extraordinary: no more opposition, no more majority at this time.
As for the duration of the transition, an issue that has taken center stage among the political class, Oligui Nguema indicated that he would not decide alone. Political parties are consulted. According to the first linguistic elements that emerged from this meeting, there was talk of a transition of one year or even two years.
This period will make it possible to develop the texts and laws that will govern the Republic. The transition will end with the organization of free and credible elections, emphasized General Oligui Nguema.
The interim president announced that he would take the oath this Monday on a charter currently being drafted and not on the dissolved constitution.
What do the political parties think of these consultations?
Reaction from Clay Martial Obame Akwe, Vice President of Morena, who welcomed the initiatives of the coup plotters.
What reassured us was that he gave us the responsibility to determine the duration of the transition. They have not come to stay in power, but to settle a number of things so that Gabon can restore its dignity.
Clay Martial Obame Akwe, Vice President of Morena
Sebastien Nemeth
Opponent Kevin Nzigou is a lawyer and managing director of the Party for Change. According to him, by reinstating the Constitutional Court and appointing him as interim president, General Oligui Nguema is violating the spirit of the coup.
The swearing in of the CTRI contradicts the coup.
Opponent Ange Kevin Nzigou, lawyer and managing director of the Party for Change
Gwendal Lavina
Gérard Ella Nguéma, candidate in the last presidential elections, reiterated General Oligui Nguéma’s commitment to involving the entire Gabonese people in the smooth running of the transition: “He stood firm. It is up to him to either respect his commitment or reconsider in the coming days.”
Anna Claudine Mavioga, president of the Christian Democratic Bloc (BDC), endorses the military’s decision to put an end to the majority and opposition divide during the transition. “In view of the dissolution of all institutions, the concept of majority and opposition falls within the scope of this regulation. All that remains are the political parties that were invited to rebuild our nation,” she believes.
Réagir Party representative Yvon Dzime said he appreciated the military’s good intentions. “He promised to organize inclusive elections after cleaning up all the texts of the Republic, the Constitution and the electoral law. We’re waiting to see it,” the man says.
Read also Coup in Gabon: General Oligui Nguema proposes reforms against employers