Soldiers in Gabon yesterday said that they were seizing power to overturn the results of a presidential election and claimed to have arrested the president, whose family has held power for 55 years.
The coup attempt came hours after Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, was declared the winner of an election marred by fears of violence.
Within minutes of the announcement, gunfire was heard in the center of the capital, Libreville.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers on state television announced that they had seized power.
Crowds took to the city’s streets to celebrate the end of Bongo’s reign, singing the national anthem with soldiers.
“Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Yollande Okomo, standing in front of soldiers from Gabon’s republican guard.
Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered the soldiers juice, which they declined.
“Long live our army,” said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with armored police officers.
The soldiers intended to “dissolve all institutions of the republic,” said a spokesman for the group, whose members were drawn from the gendarme, the republican guard and other elements of the security forces.
Later in the day, a second video carried on state television said that the president and other people in the government had been arrested.
French mining company Eramet said it was ceasing all operations in Gabon, and that it has begun procedures to ensure the safety of its staff and facilities.
The company’s subsidiaries in Gabon operate the world’s largest manganese mine and a rail transport company.
Private intelligence firm Ambrey said that all operations at the country’s main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.
One morning flight at Libreville’s Leon-Mba International Airport already had been delayed early yesterday morning.
A man who answered a number listed for the airport told reporters that flights were canceled.
The coup attempt came about one month after soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups that have challenged governments with ties to France, the region’s former colonizer.
Gabon’s coup, if successful, would bring the number of coups in west and central Africa to eight since 2020.
In his annual Independence Day speech on Aug. 17, Bongo said that “while our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilization. Never.”
The mutinous officers vowed to respect “Gabon’s commitments to the national and international community.”
Several members of the Bongo family are under investigation in France, and some have been given preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, French media have reported.
Bongo was seeking a third term in elections this weekend.
He served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years.
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