Soldiers in Gabon have taken power and put President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest, canceled presidential election results and dissolved state institutions.
In a televised statement, a group of senior Gabonese officers said they seized power after Bongo, the incumbent president, was announced to be re-elected in a contested election.
Gabon has thus become the latest in Africa to suffer a coup. This is coming barely one month after mutinous troops seized power in Niger Republic.
A group of military personnel appeared on state television, announcing they’re seizing power to overturn the results of presidential election.
Seeking to remove a president whose family has held power for nearly 56 years, the officers introduced themselves as members of the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions.
According to local media, residents heard gunfire in the capital Libreville.
“In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the officers said on national television.
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“All the institutions of the republic are dissolved, in particular the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, the Gabonese Center for Elections,” read the statement.
The officers said that they seized power after election body announced Bongo, the incumbent president, re-elected in a contested election.
Gabon’s national electoral body had earlier declared Bongo from ruling Gabonese Democratic Party re-elected for third term in Saturday’s election. But the junta said the election was not credible.
The Gabonese presidency and the government have not yet responded to the statement.
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Ali Bongo, 64, once served as Minister of Defence and other posts in the government. He was elected president of the Gabonese Republic in 2009 and was re-elected in 2016.
In another statement released on Wednesday, the military said they kept President Ali Bongo “under house arrest, surrounded by his family and his doctors”.
The officers said they arrested son of the president, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several other senior officials close to Bongo.
TheNewsZenith reports that if successful, the coup would be the eighth in the West and Central Africa since 2020.
The most recent one, in Niger, was in July, while soldiers also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina-Faso and Chad.
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