Moment Gabon soldiers tell citizens the president has been overthrown
Mutinous soldiers announced that Gabon’s president has been overthrown on national TV today.
They said they were going to ‘dissolve all institutions of the republic’ in the Central African country.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, is reportedly under house arrest after 14 years in power.
His family, which has long-standing ties to Gabon’s former colonial ruler France, has held power for more than five decades.
Just hours before the coup, Mr Bongo was declared the winner of last weekend’s elections, granting him a third term.
But troops told citizens ‘the election results are cancelled’ and informed them that several members of government had been arrested.
One fighter told TV channel Gabon 24: ‘We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime.’
He went on to say they were responding to ‘irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos’.
Borders have been closed ‘until further notice’, with a worker at Libreville’s Léon-Mba International Airport confirming that all of today’s flights have been cancelled.
Gabon won its independence from France in 1960 and then tried different political structures before it returned to a multi-party system in 1990.
Every election since then has ended in violence, with clashes between government forces and protesters in 2016 resulting in four official deaths – the opposition insists this number is higher.
After last week’s vote, Gabonese leaders restricted internet access and enforced a nightly curfew between 7pm and 6am ‘to quell disinformation and calls for violence’.
Internet service in the country has seen a ‘partial restoration’ since the coup, global internet tracking organisation NetBlocks said.
Locals have posted clips they claim show grateful citizens giving officers crates of beer which the men seem to refuse, albeit with one looking particularly reluctant.
Yollande Okomo, was standing in front of the Gabon’s republican guard when he said: ‘Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.’
Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered soldiers juice and youngster Jordy Dikaba said ‘long live our army’ while walking with his friends on a street lined with armed police.
It was just a month ago that Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum was deposed by his own soldiers.
Gabon and Niger are just the latest African countries which have seen coups challenging governments with ties to France.
If Gabon’s military is successful, it will mean West and Central Africa has seen eight coups in just three years.
Unlike Niger, and several of its neighbouring countries in the Sahel region, Gabon has not fallen victim to relentless jihadi attacks.
In Mr Bongo’s annual Independence Day speech on August 17, he said: ‘While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilisation. Never.’
Despite the nation being comparatively stable, Gabonese people have still faced intense challenges with the rising cost of living.
Nearly 40% of those between the ages of 15 and 24 were unemployed in 2020, according to the World Bank.
Mr Bongo, who was educated at a private school in France, was pictured shaking hands with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris in June.
This would not have been well-received in a region with a growing resentment for France and alliances with it.
A colonel who was part of overthrowing Mali’s government last September said France had ‘neocolonialist, condescending, paternalist and vengeful policies’.
The European country currently has 400 soldiers in Gabon, leading a regional military training operation.
The French military said it has not changed its normal operations today but the government has said it is ‘following the situation in Gabon closely’.
Voicing concerns about instability in Africa, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: ‘This is a big issue for Europe.’
Like many countries on the continent, Gabon is extremely resource-rich – it is the eighth-largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa.
French mining group Eramet said it has stopped working in Gabon for security reasons.
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