The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell insisted on Thursday on the difference between the coups in Niger and in Gabon, stressing that the latter, which overthrew President Ali Bongo, followed elections marred by “d ‘irregularities’. “Of course, military coups are not the solution but we must not forget that in Gabon there were elections full of irregularities”, he underlined, affirming that a rigged election could be interpreted as an “institutional coup”.
A country ruled for 55 years by the Bongo family
Stating that no evacuation of European citizens residing in Gabon was planned, he insisted that the situation was “calm”. “We do not see any risk of violence”, he underlined from Toledo, in Spain, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 27. The situation is radically different” from that of Niger, a- he insisted.
Putschist soldiers dismissed outgoing President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Wednesday, shortly after the announcement of his re-election as head of the country, provoking demonstrations of jubilation. This oil-rich Central African country had been ruled for more than 55 years by the Bongo family. The war in Ukraine and the situation in Niger, where soldiers overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, were to be at the heart of the discussions at this meeting in Toledo.
Situations in Niger and Gabon not “equivalent”
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who holds the rotating presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), is to attend the meeting, said the head of European diplomacy. The coup in Niger has increased tensions in the Sahel, where three other civilian governments have been overthrown by the military since 2020 and where jihadist rebel movements control entire regions.
Asked on CNN shortly before the start of the Toledo meeting, Joseph Borrel insisted that the situations in Gabon and Niger were not “equivalent”. “In Niger, the president was a democratically elected president (…). In Gabon, a few hours before the military coup, there was an institutional coup because the elections were stolen”, a- he declared.
“I cannot say that Gabon was a real democracy with a family that had ruled the country for 50 years,” he insisted.