William Molinié / Photo credit: XOSE BOUZAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
Ali Bongo, friend of France, is about to fall in Gabon. France, moreover, did not intervene in this coup to save the leader in place. It is the illustration of the new French doctrine in Africa.
The French intelligence services had, according to information from Europe 1, got wind of this putsch. The alert went up to the top of the State in Paris. But Emmanuel Macron did not move a finger. He considers that it is an internal political crisis in Gabon.
And France will stay away, just as it did not intervene in Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger. It is a response to the anti-French discourse that drives civil society in the region. From now on, France intends to play the card of discretion.
To perhaps become influential again one day. Moreover, the instructions given by Paris to the embassy in Libreville are clear: do everything possible to prevent this generals’ putsch from turning into an anti-French coup.
A coup in a particular climate
The peculiarity of this coup is that it takes place on the occasion of an election and that the latter is contested and contestable. Nobody can reasonably say that Ali Bongo is a great democrat, because the poll was marred by accusations of fraud.
No international or African observer was on site, but also no foreign journalist was authorized to enter Gabon to cover the elections. These arguments could give the putschists a form of legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.
A gradual dissociation
France had anticipated and begun to dissociate itself from the Bongo clan long before the start of the putsch epidemic in West Africa and the Sahel. First by reducing its military presence on the spot, but also in France.
Several members of the Bongo clan were indicted last year for having taken advantage of a luxurious real estate heritage in France. Ill-gotten gains estimated by the courts at at least 85 million euros.