Gabon army officers announce they’ve seized energy

A gaggle of senior Gabonese army officers appeared on nationwide tv within the early hours of Wednesday and mentioned they’d taken energy, minutes after the state election physique introduced President Ali Bongo had gained a 3rd time period.

Showing on tv channel Gabon 24, the officers mentioned they represented all safety and protection forces within the Central African nation. They mentioned the election outcomes had been cancelled, all borders closed till additional discover and state establishments dissolved.

Loud sounds of gunfire may very well be heard within the capital Libreville, a Reuters reporter mentioned, after the tv look.

There was no fast remark from the federal government of the OPEC-member nation. There have been no fast reviews on the whereabouts of Bongo, who was final seen in public when he solid his vote within the election on Saturday.

“Within the identify of the Gabonese individuals … we’ve got determined to defend the peace by placing an finish to the present regime,” the officers mentioned in a press release.

As one officer learn the joint assertion, round a dozen others stood silently behind him in army fatigues and berets.

The servicemen launched themselves as members of The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Establishments. The state establishments they declared dissolved included the federal government, the senate, the nationwide meeting, the constitutional courtroom and the election physique.

If profitable, the coup would characterize the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. Coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger have undermined democratic progress in recent times.

Final month, the army snatched energy in Niger, sending shockwaves throughout the Sahel and sucking in international powers with strategic pursuits at stake.

Tensions had been working excessive in Gabon amid fears of unrest after Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary, and legislative vote, which noticed Bongo searching for to increase his household’s 56-year grip on energy whereas the opposition pushed for change within the oil and cocoa-rich however poverty-stricken nation.

A scarcity of worldwide observers, the suspension of some international broadcasts, and the authorities’ choice to chop web service and impose a night-time curfew nationwide after the ballot had raised issues concerning the transparency of the electoral course of.

Gabon foiled an tried army coup in January 2019 after troopers briefly seized the state radio station and broadcast a message saying Bongo, who had suffered a stroke months earlier, was not match for workplace.

The state of affairs was restored hours later after two of the suspected coup plotters had been killed and others arrested.

The Gabonese Election Centre mentioned earlier on Wednesday Bongo gained the election with 64.27% of the vote and that his major challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had are available in second place with 30.77%.

Bongo, 64, who succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009, had contested in opposition to 18 challengers, six of whom backed Ondo Ossa in an effort to slim the race.

The federal government has mentioned the net blackout and curfew are mandatory to stop the unfold of pretend information and to guard public security. Bongo’s disputed 2016 election win provoked violent protests that noticed the parliament constructing torched.

His crew have rejected allegations of fraud by Ondo Ossa and his opposition alliance after a vote marred by quite a few polling stations opening a number of hours late.

The alliance Alternance 2023 additionally reported different alleged irregularities together with that poll slips for its candidates had not been deployed accurately in some areas. Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the declare.

The European Union was not invited to look at this election. EU displays beforehand questioned the validity of Bongo’s slim victory within the 2016 presidential vote.

On Monday, media watchdog Reporters with out Borders (RSF) voiced concern concerning the web block and Gabon’s momentary suspension of broadcasts by French worldwide information retailers RFI, France 24, and TV5 Monde.

“RSF denounces a collection of assaults on press freedom and data pluralism, information prone to compromise (the) basic election’s transparency,” it mentioned in an internet publish.

The opposition has disputed each of Bongo’s earlier electoral victories, citing fraud. He first got here to energy in a 2009 vote following the demise of his father Omar Bongo earlier than being re-elected in 2016.