Coup: Gabon Soldiers Takes Over Power

A dozen Gabonese soldiers announced on television on Wednesday declaring they were “putting an end to the current regime” and that the election, which President Ali Bongo Ondimba supposedly won, had been canceled.

One of the soldiers announced that the results had been canceled and that “all the institutions of the republic” had been abolished.

“We have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime”, one of the soldiers said on TV channel Gabon 24, adding that he was speaking on behalf of the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions”.

“To this end, the general elections of 26 August 2023 and the truncated results are cancelled,” he added.

“All the institutions of the republic are dissolved: the government, the Senate, the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court,” he added, announcing the closure of the country’s borders “until further notice”.

The declaration was made immediately after the national election authority declared that Bongo, who has been in power for 14 years, had received 64.27 per cent of the vote to win a third term.

Bongo’s main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, won just 30.77 per cent of the vote, according to the results.

It is pertinent to note that Gabon has been ruled by the Bongo’s family for more than 55 out of its 63 years since independence from France in 1960.

Bongo senior, who took office in 1967, had the reputation of a kleptocrat — one of the richest men in the world, with a fortune derived from Gabon’s oil wealth.

When his father Omar passed away in 2009 after nearly 42 years in office, Bongo, 64, who was running for a third term, assumed control.

Several reactions have trailed the most recent coup