The WHO, WHAT, and WHY of  Gabon Coup

In Gabon, soldiers declared that the most recent election results had been invalidated and that state institutions had been dissolved.

At the African Union’s 5th mid-year coordination meeting, which was held on July 16, 2023, at the UN headquarters in Gigiri, Nairobi, Gabon’s president Ali Bongo Ondimba listens.

Senior military officials in Gabon claimed on Wednesday that they had taken control of the nation’s capital and were working to annul the results of the most recent election and unseat the government’s longtime rulers.

This happened an hour after President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared the victor of the weekend presidential election.

Here is what we currently know:

What occurred, and when?

For the country’s presidential election, Gabon went to the polls on August 26th, a Saturday.

The country’s national electoral body declared that Bongo, who had been in power for 14 years, had won a third term with 64.27 percent of the vote cast early on Wednesday, August 30.

Soon after, on state television, a group of rebellious soldiers announced they were taking control, annulling the election results, and “putting an end to the current regime.”

Albert Ondo Ossa, Bongo’s main rival, received 30.77% of the vote, according to the electoral authority.

Ondo Ossa had declared victory before the polls had closed, accusing the Bongo camp of orchestrating a “fraud.”

On March 1, 2023, Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba (L) watches as he participates in a bilateral meeting with the French President at the Presidential Palace in Libreville. Albert Ondo Ossa (R), a candidate for the Alternative 2023 opposition grouping in Gabon, addresses the media in Libreville.

Who is responsible for the ongoing coup attempt?

The soldiers who took control announced the cancellation of the election and the closing of all borders under the guise of the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.”

Additionally, they declared the dissolution of all state institutions, including “the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Court, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council and the Gabonese Elections Centre.”.

While about a dozen other officers in military fatigues and berets stood silently behind him, one officer read a joint statement on TV channel Gabon 24. According to the AFP news agency, they included colonels in the army, members of the elite Republican Guard, regular soldiers, and others.

In part, the soldier’s statement was read aloud in French as follows:

“Our lovely Gabonese nation has consistently been a haven of peace. A serious institutional, political, economic, and social crisis is currently affecting the nation.

“We are therefore compelled to admit that the general election organization on August 26, 2023 did not meet the requirements for a transparent, credible, and inclusive ballot that the Gabonese people had hoped for.

“On top of that, there is irresponsible and unpredictable governance, which contributes to a continued decline in social cohesion and runs the risk of bringing about total chaos in the nation. People of Gabon, we are at last on the path to happiness. Bless Gabon with the blessings of God and the souls of our ancestors. Honor and devotion to our country.

In this clip from Gabon 24, soldiers from Gabon appear on television on August 30, 2023, declaring they are “putting an end to the current regime” and calling for the cancellation of an election that, according to official results, President Ali Bongo Ondimba won. –

 As the announcement was being made, gunfire could be heard in Libreville, the capital of Gabon. One of the soldiers announced that “all the institutions of the republic” had been dissolved while also canceling the results. On television station Gabon 24, one of the soldiers declared, “We have decided to defend peace by overthrowing the current regime,” adding that he was speaking on behalf of the “Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions.”

In order to accomplish this, he continued, “the general elections of August 26, 2023, and the truncated results are cancelled.”

Announcing the closing of the nation’s borders “until further notice,” he continued, “all the institutions of the republic are dissolved: the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Constitutional Court.” Along with regular army soldiers and police officers, the soldiers included members of the Republican Guard.

Where did it happen?

The believed coup took place in Libreville After the soldiers took control, loud shooting could be heard throughout the city, according to reports from Reuters and AFP.

There have been reports of revelers gathering in the streets of the capital, according to Al Jazeera correspondents in the neighboring West African cities of Dakar and Niamey.

Since its independence from France in 1960, Gabon has been a small nation in Central Africa that has been governed by the same family for more than 55 years.

Due largely to oil revenues and the nation’s small population of 2.3 million, it has one of the highest GDP per capita levels in Africa

The nation was able to create a robust middle class in the 1970s thanks to the discovery of large offshore oil reserves.

60% of the country’s revenue comes from oil.

According to the World Bank, however, a third of the population continues to live below the $5.50 per day poverty line.

Where is President Ali Bongo Ondimba now

Bongo is reportedly under house arrest and one of his sons has been detained for “treason,” according to the coup leaders in Gabon.

In a statement that was read aloud on state television, they stated that President Ali Bongo was under house arrest and was being cared for by his family and physicians.

Security forces are widely dispersed throughout Libreville, according to Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, who is reporting from Dakar, Senegal.

“The presidential guards appear to have taken control of the presidential palace and they have taken key positions around the National Assembly and the Senate,” he claimed.

In 2009, after nearly 42 years in power, Bongo, 64, succeeded his father Omar. When Bongo Senior assumed office in 1967, he had a reputation as a kleptocrat and was one of the richest men in the world thanks to the wealth of Gabon’s oil industry.

President Bongo had a stroke in October 2018, which rendered him incapacitated for ten months. The incident fueled allegations that he wasn’t fit to be president and fueled a small-scale coup attempt.