Update on Gabon Military Coup

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#Africa, September 19, 2023 – Gabon has become the most recent African country to fall victim to a military coup, following a swift takeover on Wednesday August 30th.

The coup came after elections on August 26th where Ali Bongo, incumbent president was declared winner, to cries of fraud from the opposition.

Gabon, a West African country bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, has only been independent since 1960 and the Bongo family has occupied the presidential palace for the majority of that time.

Between Ali’s father Omar Bongo, who became President in 1967 and remained so for 42 years, and Ali’s subsequent victory in 2009, the family has controlled the oil-rich African nation for over five decades.

Following the coup, Bongo has been placed under house arrest, and Brice Nguem, a senior Military leader installed as the new president of the country.

The United Nations has condemned the coup but acknowledged that there were doubts about the legality of Bongo’s election win. Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General,  reportedly noted the announcement of the win with “deep concern” ‘given reports of serious irregularities at the polls.’

Press conferences have already been held and international media are reporting that Nguem has promised that the military role is only temporary until fresh and fair elections can be held.

No date has been given for those elections and the new leader is rumored to have been a close friend and possible relative of the Bongo family.

Albert Ondo Ossa, the opposition candidate, told Al Jazeera he thought the coup was a ploy to keep power in the family.

“Basically, I think the Bongo family got rid of one of its members who was weighing on the family, and they wanted Bongo power to continue… It was a palace revolution, not a coup d’etat. This is a family affair, where one brother replaces another,” he is quoted as saying.

It follows a coup in Niger in July 2023, which at the time of the coup in Gabon, had still not been resolved. The African nations of Mali (2020) Guinea, Chad and Sudan (2021) and Burkina Faso (2022), have all experienced military coups in quick succession.