General Brice Oligui Nguema appointed “president of the transition”

General Brice Oligui Nguema was named Gabon’s new strongman on Wednesday August 30, at the end of a day marked by a coup that sidelined President Ali Bongo, in office since 2009. then head of the Republican Guard, Brice Oligui Nguema was appointed “Chairman of the Committee for the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions (CTRI)”, announced a spokesperson on the Gabon 24 television channel on the evening of Wednesday August 30.

The general had been carried in triumph on Wednesday by hundreds of soldiers a few hours after the coup d’etat, to cries of “Oligui President”, in images broadcast by state television. Exclusively, he gave an interview in the middle of the day to the World in which he asserts that“Ali Bongo is retired”.

On Wednesday evening, a press release from the putschist power announced that General “orders the reconnection of the optical fiber and the restoration of the signals of international radio and television channels”. The current curfew has been extended by one hour.

“We are putting an end to the regime in place”

This day was marked by confusion in Gabon where, hardly the victory of Ali Bongo Ondimba in the presidential election of August 26 was known, soldiers intervened on the public television channel Gabon 24 to announce the cancellation of the elections and the dissolution of institutions. “We are putting an end to the regime in place”, affirmed a group of a dozen Gabonese soldiers on Wednesday August 30 at dawn, announcing that “the borders are closed”.

After noticing “an irresponsible, unpredictable governance, which results in a continuous deterioration of social cohesion that risks leading the country to chaos (…), we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place”said a soldier on television, saying he was speaking on behalf of a “Transition and Institutional Restoration Committee ».

Among these soldiers were members of the Republican Guard, the Praetorian Guard of the Presidency, recognizable by their green berets, as well as regular army soldiers and police officers. The statement was then also broadcast on Gabon Première public television.

According to journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP) present on the spot, automatic weapon fire was heard during the declaration of the soldiers in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.

President Ali Bongo “under house arrest”

Surrounded by his family and his doctors, “President Ali Bongo is kept under house arrest”, according to a statement read on state television by the CTRI military. One of his sons was arrested, notably for “high treason”, the soldiers also announced.

In video broadcast in the early afternoon and whose shooting time is unknown, Ali Bongo appears seated in an armchair and says he is at the presidential palace. He calls in English his ” friends “ has ” make noise “. Mr. Bongo says he was arrested with his family: ” My son [et conseiller Noureddin Bongo Valentin] is somewhere, my wife is somewhere else. (…) I don’t know what’s going on. »

Six other young members of Ali Bongo’s professional entourage were arrested in particular for ” high treason “, “massive embezzlement of public funds” And “forgery of signature” of the Head of State, announced the putschist soldiers at the end of the morning.

A hotly contested election

In power for fourteen years, President Ali Bongo Ondimba had just been declared re-elected on Wednesday morning for a third term, with 64.27% of the votes cast. According to the national authority in charge of the elections, Mr. Bongo had beaten, in a single ballot, his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, who had won only 30.77% of the votes, as well as twelve other candidates, who had collected only crumbs. The president of the Gabonese Elections Centre, Michel Stéphane Bonda, announced the results on the air of state television Gabon Première. The participation rate was 56.65%.

Albert Ondo Ossa had denounced “fraud orchestrated by Camp Bongo” two hours before the polls closed on Saturday and was already claiming victory. His camp on Monday urged Mr. Bongo to “Organise, without bloodshed, the transfer of power” on the basis of a count carried out according to him by his own scrutineers, but without producing any supporting document.

The official results were given in the middle of the night, at 3 a.m. (4 a.m. in Paris), on state television without any announcement of the event having been made beforehand. In full curfew therefore, two measures decreed by the government on Saturday before the closing of the polling stations, in order to ward off, according to him, the dissemination “fake news” and to possible “violence”.

France is following the situation “with the greatest attention”

” There France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon”government spokesman Olivier Véran said on Wednesday, reaffirming that Paris “Is monitoring the situation very carefully”. Earlier, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, had signified it in front of the ambassadors and ambassadors of France gathered in Paris. French diplomacy “reaffirms its wish that the result of the election, when it is known, can be respected”added Mr. Véran, during a press conference after the Council of Ministers.

There China has she called ” The parties involved “ in Gabon at “guarantee security” of President Ali Bongo. One of the spokespersons for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin, also announced to the press that “China closely follows the development of the situation in Gabon and calls on the parties concerned to act in the interest of the Gabonese people. (…)to the immediate return to normal order”.

On the side of UNITED STATES, John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, assured that Washington “follows very closely” the situation and ensured that the diplomatic personnel and the American soldiers present in Gabon were safe. He thinks “deeply disturbing” the succession of coups d’etat in Africa in recent years but judged that it was ” too early “ to talk about a ” tendency “ background.

In RussiaKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also claimed to follow ” from close “ the situation in Gabon with a “deep concern”.

THE Moroccowhose king, Mohammed VI, and Ali Bongo were childhood friends, “stresses the importance of preserving the stability of this brotherly country and the tranquility of its population” And ” trusts in the wisdom of the Gabonese nation, its vital forces and its national institutions, to move towards a perspective allowing to act in the higher interests of the country, to safeguard the achievements made and to meet the aspirations of the Gabonese people brother “he concludes.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, “notes with great concern the announcement of the election results in the context of reports of serious violations of fundamental freedoms”calling on the security forces to “guarantee the physical integrity of the President of the Republic and his family”.

The President of the Commission of theAfrican Union (UA), Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly condemns the coup attempt”denouncing “a flagrant violation” of the principles of continental organization, in a communicated released Wednesday. He “calls on the national army and the security forces to adhere strictly to their republican vocation, to guarantee the physical integrity of the President of the Republic, [Ali Bongo Ondimba]members of his family, as well as those of his government..

“If this is confirmed, it is a new military coup that increases instability in the whole region”worried the high representative of theEuropean Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. The coup would represent the eighth overthrow of power in West and Central Africa since 2020, just a month after the army putsch in Niger. Military juntas have also taken power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad.

“Following the latest current events”the French mining group Eramet had “put on hold” its activities in Gabon, before announcing “the restart of rail freight this evening [mercredi soir] And [la] resumption of manganese production activities tomorrow”. Eramet employs some 8,000 people in the country, mostly Gabonese. On his side, TotalEnergies said in a statement that its priority was to“to ensure the safety of its employees and its operations”.