LIBREVILLE Gabon August 30 -Rebel officers in Gabon on Wednesday August 30 seized power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been declared the winner.
Bongo, who has been in power since 2009, his son and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin, his Chief of Staff Ian Ghislain Ngolou as well as his deputy have been arrested, according to the military.
Also arrested are two other presidential advisers and two top officials of the ruling Gaboneses Democratic Party (PDG).
The rebel soldiers said they are accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president’s signature.
Bongo, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason.
A worried-looking Bongo, in a video from an unidentified location, appealed to “all friends that we have all over the world… to make noise” on his behalf.
In an address to the nation, the group of officers declared “all the institutions of the republic” had been dissolved, the election results cancelled and the borders closed.
An officer flanked by a group of a dozen army colonels, members of the elite Republican Guard, regular soldiers and others said: “Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis.”
They said the elections did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the people of Gabon.
“Added to this is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion, with the risk of leading the country in chaos,” the statement read.
TV images later showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried in triumph by hundreds of soldiers, to cries of “Oligui president.”
Bongo appeared in a video appeal that gave no indication of when or where it was recorded.
“I’m sending a message to all friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for… the people here who arrested me and my family. My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I’m at the residence and nothing is happening. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m calling you to make noise,” he said.
Bongo was first elected in 2009 following the death of his father Omar, who had ruled the country for 41 years, reputedly amassing a fortune en route.
The announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday’s election with 64.27 percent of the vote.
Gabon’s main opposition, led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, had angrily accused Bongo of “fraud” and demanded that he hand over power “without bloodshed.”
Gabon’s 2016 presidential elections were also marked by deadly violence after Bongo was named winner, edging out rival Jean Ping by just 5,500 votes, according to the official tally.
Gabon has been ruled by the Bongo family for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.
Omar Bongo was one of France’s closest allies in the post-colonial era and his son has long been a regular in Paris, where his family owns an extensive real estate portfolio that is being investigated by anti-corruption magistrates.
Bongo is the latest pro-French figure in Africa to face a coup. Five other African nations have seen military takeovers since 2020 — Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger.
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