People celebrate in a street of Port-Gentil, Gabon after military officers launched a coup to depose President Ali Bongo, Aug.. 30, 2023.STRINGER/Reuters
Thousands of people celebrated in the streets of Gabon’s cities after military officers launched a coup to depose the president whose family has ruled the oil-rich Central African country for more than half a century.
The coup is the eighth in West and Central Africa in the past three years, in a trend that some analysts have called “coup contagion.”
The region is already grappling with recent coups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali, where military leaders have exploited the growing discontent of people in impoverished countries with a rising death toll from Islamist insurgencies. Even before the latest coup, French President Emmanuel Macron complained this week of an “epidemic of putsches” in West Africa.
Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, in a video released on social media on Wednesday, said he was under arrest in his official residence. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said in the brief video, sitting in a luxurious armchair in a lavishly appointed room.
“I’m sending a message to all the friends we have all over the world, telling them to make noise, for the people here have arrested me and my family,” the 64-year-old president said, speaking quietly in English and gesturing emotionally.
“My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place, and I’m in the residence. Nothing is happening…. So I’m calling on you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really.”
Many commentators noted the irony that Mr. Bongo’s video message had emerged only because the military had ordered internet services to be restored after the coup. The Bongo government had shut down the internet during a national election on the weekend, claiming that opposition politicians were using it for “provocative statements.”
A dozen military officers went on state television early on Wednesday morning to declare that they had seized power in Gabon, just minutes after electoral authorities had announced that Mr. Bongo had won re-election with 64 per cent of the vote – a result that opposition leaders said was fraudulent. The government had barred international observers and shut down foreign television broadcasts during the vote.
“We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” one military officer said in the announcement. He said the new regime has annulled the election results and arrested several officials, including a son of the president, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, on corruption-related charges.
Videos on social media showed crowds of people cheering the military officers as they marched through the streets of Gabon’s capital, Libreville. Some people brought cases of beer to the soldiers. Others tore down Mr. Bongo’s election billboards.
Mr. Bongo has ruled Gabon since the death of his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009. His father had dominated the country from 1967 until his death, and their combined rule of 56 years is among the longest for any family in Africa. The country has vast oil resources and a relatively high average income, but most of the money flows to a small elite, leaving its two million people mired largely in poverty.
For years, the Bongo family has been accused of corruption on a grand scale. According to French police investigations, the family owns dozens of properties in France, including luxury homes in Paris and the French Riviera, along with a fleet of expensive cars, including Ferraris and Mercedes.
Another investigation, in the United States, found that the family had deposited at least US$100-million in U.S. banks. Mr. Bongo personally controls a reported US$1-billion in assets. His former wife at one point was renting a house from the rapper Sean (P. Diddy) Combs for US$25,000 a month.
The new military junta announced that it would be headed by General Brice Oligui Nguema, commander of Gabon’s Republican Guard. Soldiers shouted his name as they marched through the streets of Libreville on Wednesday.
Gen. Oligui is reported to be a cousin of Ali Bongo. He has faced similar media reports of unexplained wealth. In 2015 and 2018, he reportedly purchased three houses near Washington for more than US$1-million in cash.
Ali Bongo’s government has deployed military and police to crush opposition protests in the past. After the disputed 2016 election, security forces reportedly killed dozens of protesters and arrested more than 1,000 people.
Despite the evidence of corruption and undemocratic rule, the Bongo regime has been generally supported by Western governments. France has a military base with about 370 soldiers in Gabon. Western leaders have praised the Bongo government for taking steps to preserve its vast rainforests.
The coup was swiftly denounced by the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the United States, France and Canada. ”Canada is deeply concerned by the situation in Gabon and calls for a quick and peaceful return to democratic and inclusive civilian-led governance and for respect of the rule of law,” a statement from Global Affairs Canada said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also noted, however, that there had been “serious infringements of fundamental freedoms” during Gabon’s election.
Gabon became a member of the Commonwealth last year – a move that was controversial at the time, partly because of its long history of authoritarian rule. Commonwealth secretary-general Patricia Scotland said on Wednesday that the military takeover in Gabon is “deeply concerning” because “member states must uphold the rule of law and the principles of democracy at all times.”