“We are going to put them away, you never know, it can always be useful! » The young officer of the air and border police launches this joke to his colleagues, Monday, September 4 in the morning, by storing in a cupboard of his office two official portraits of Ali Bongo Ondimba, hitherto hung on the walls of the Léon-Mba International Airport in Libreville. The soldier has no idea of the usefulness he could find in the two paintings of his ex-president. But why persist in destroying these images that are already outdated, which nevertheless concentrate more than fifty-five years of power in the hands of the same family. Only five days ago, however, Ali Bongo Ondimba, successor to his father Omar in 2009, after his death, was deposed by a military coup. It already seems like an eternity.
For him, this September 4 is the first day of a new era. Because a few moments later, the new strongman of Gabon, General Brice Oligui Nguema, took the oath. Impeccably strapped in the bright red uniform of the Republican Guard, chest weighted with all the country’s decorations, he swore loyalty to his people, his country and democracy. An oath made not, as usual, on the Constitution – he suspended it and promised to have another adopted by referendum – but on the charter of the transition. The text was written in record time. We do not yet know the content.
The new president of the transition, however, insisted on making a solemn commitment in the presence of all the judges of the Constitutional Court. With the very notable exception of their president, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, placed under house arrest like a handful of other former officials, including Ali Bongo, his wife and their son. She was an essential cog in the Bongo regime’s election rigging machine. There is no doubt that she would have validated, in the last instance, the fraudulent results of the presidential election of August 26 which offered a third term to Ali Bongo, as she did in 2016.
“Outrageously biased electoral process”
From now on, it is the former commander-in-chief of the Republican Guard who holds the reins. And according to the general, it was these electoral embezzlements that pushed him to action. “The defense and security forces of our country have taken their responsibilities by refusing the electoral coup which had just been pronounced by the Gabonese Elections Center following an outrageously biased electoral process”he said during a speech delivered in the wake of his swearing-in. “The defense and security forces had a double choice: either kill Gabonese who had legitimately demonstrated, or put an end to a manifestly rigged electoral process. (…) It is with complete freedom, responsibility that we said no, never again in our beautiful country Gabon., he added. In 2016, dozens – the exact toll has never been established – of supporters of Jean Ping who contested the defeat of their champion, had been killed by them.
You have 52.47% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.