After being overthrown in a coup by the army and placed under house arrest, President Ali Bongo of Gabon has made an appeal for assistance.
He exhorted followers to “raise your voice” while speaking from what he claimed to be his home.
Army officers had earlier announced their coup on television.
They proclaimed that they were voiding the results of the election held on Saturday, which the opposition claimed was rigged and in which Mr. Bongo was pronounced the victor.
Additionally, the officers claimed to have detained one of Mr. Bongo’s sons for treason.
The removal of Mr. Bongo would put an end to his family’s 53-year rule in Gabon.
While approximately 90% of the nation is covered in woods, it is one of Africa’s top oil producers. It became one of the few Commonwealth countries that had never been a British colony when it joined the organization in June 2022.
Chronicle NG reports that Mr. Bongo acknowledged that he was under house arrest in his video message.
“My wife is somewhere, and my son is somewhere else… There is no activity. He again repeated his request for assistance, saying in English, “I don’t know what’s going on.
The press has been in touch with a communications firm that supported the presidency during the election to verify the veracity of the video. It claimed that the video distribution request had come from Mr. Bongo’s office.
The coup leaders said on television that they would dissolve “all the institutions of the republic” and annul the election results.
It followed the announcement by Gabon’s electoral commission that Mr. Bongo had won slightly less than two-thirds of the votes in the election on Saturday, which the opposition claimed was rigged.
Because of “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos,” one of the troops claimed they had “put an end to the current regime.”
Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, the commander of the presidential guard, would take over for Mr. Bongo, and a probe would be conducted into some of the officials’ acts before “answers for their actions” were given.
They said that the country’s borders have been sealed “until further notice”.
In the last three years, there have been eight coups in former French possessions in Africa.
The majority of the others, however, have occurred further north in the Sahel, where an Islamist insurgency has sparked an increase in concerns about the democratically elected governments’ poor protection of the civilian populace.
With the Bongo family dynasty in power in Gabon since 1967, there is no doubt that many people have had enough of them. People appeared to be genuinely happy as they quickly took to the streets. There hasn’t been much evidence of a reaction thus far.
The French government has denounced the coup and demanded that the election results be recognized, according to a spokesman.
However, French influence in Africa has substantially decreased recently, so it is unlikely that a request for Ali Bongo to continue performing would be favourably received.
Since France was less likely to defend Mr. Bongo, it’s possible that the military felt emboldened to intervene as a result of France’s waning influence.
The fact that Mr. Bongo chose to speak in English in his video rather than the official language of Gabon, French, suggests that he was addressing the Commonwealth rather than France.
Several other nations, including China and Russia, have voiced similar worries. A military coup, according to the head of foreign policy for the European Union, would make Africa’s instability worse.
The issue is significant for Europe, according to Josep Borrell.
For security reasons, internet access was shut down after the election on Saturday, but it quickly resumed following the apparent takeover. There is also a curfew in force.
Similar to past Gabonese general elections, there were significant issues with the voting process on Saturday.
While the coalition he represents asserted that some of the names of individuals who withdrew from the presidential election were still on the ballot sheet, the main opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, alleged that ballot papers featuring his name were missing from many polling places.
Foreign media were reportedly prohibited from entering the nation to cover the election, according to the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.
Both of Mr. Bongo’s prior victories were contested as dishonest by rivals. Just weeks before the election, contentious amendments to the ballots were made.
When his father, Omar, passed away in 2009, Mr. Bongo assumed control.
He had a stroke in 2018, which left him disabled for nearly a year and prompted calls for him to resign.
A failed coup attempt the next year resulted in the imprisonment of mutinous soldiers.
