Countries around the world criticized the military takeover in the Central African country of Gabon, while President Ali Bongo called on people to oppose and protest his arrest on Wednesday.
Members of the security forces gesture to a driver, at a checkpoint in the streets
of Akanda, Gabon, Aug. 30, 2023. (EPA Photo)
The African Union strongly condemned the coup in Gabon and urged the army to guarantee the physical integrity of the president, his family and those in government.
African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said he is following the situation with great concern.
Russia expresses concern
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Moscow has concerns about the situation in Gabon and is monitoring developments.
Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia views Gabon as a friendly country and is expecting the situation to stabilize as soon as possible.
The Gabonese army announced Wednesday it seized power in Libreville.
It came shortly after the Gabonese Election Centre confirmed that incumbent President Ali Bongo officially won a third term in elections with 64.27% of the vote.
Zakharova said Moscow has not received any notification regarding injuries or casualties from Russians in Gabon. She advised Russian nationals to avoid traveling to Gabon unless absolutely necessary.
France condemns coup
France condemned the military coup in Gabon, its former colony, the government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“France is also monitoring the situation with much attention, and wished that the elections results, once announced, would be respected,” Olivier Veran said in a news conference following the Council of Ministers in Paris.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne earlier said that France was monitoring the developments in coup-hit Gabon with the “utmost attention.”
US watching Gabon situation
The United States is closely watching the situation in Gabon following the military coup, the latest in a series of undemocratic power seizures in Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“It’s deeply concerning. We were going to watch this closely, and we’re going to continue to do everything we can to support the idea of democratic ideals that are expressed by the African people,” said White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby.
Italy monitoring developments
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a short video on social media platform X that the 150 Italians in Gabon are safe.
“We ask all of them to be highly vigilant and to remain at home,” he added.
He said the crisis unit of the Italian Foreign Ministry and the country’s embassy in Libreville are closely following how the situation in Gabon is evolving.
He also said that the situation in Gabon and in the rest of Africa will be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Wednesday and Thursday.
Bongo appeals to world, urges protests against detention
Bongo called on the people of Gabon to “make noise,” saying in a brief video he has been illegally detained at his residence.
He appealed to the world to raise a voice for his release after the military put him “under house arrest” after a coup, according to a video of the president circulating online.
The 64-year-old leader is seen in the 50-second video sitting calmly in a chair as he makes an urgent appeal.
“I am Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon, and I am sending a message to all friends we have all over the world to make noise because the people here have arrested me,” he said in the video posted online whose source could not be verified.
Bongo further said: “My family, my son is somewhere and my wife is in another place. Right now I’m in the residence, and nothing is happening. I don’t know what is going on. So I am calling you to make noise. Thank you,” the detained leader said.
The military canceled the election results that declared Bongo the winner with 64.27% of the vote.
Bongo has been in power for more than a decade.
The army said it denounced “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuous deterioration of social cohesion, which risks leading the country into chaos.”
Bongo has “been placed in retirement,” the head of his presidential guard told Le Monde newspaper on Wednesday after rebel officers said they had toppled him.
“He has been placed in retirement. He has all his rights. He’s an ordinary Gabonese person, like everyone,” Brice Oligui Nguema said, while denying that he had become the leader of the putsch.
The leader of the Presidential Guard was seen in video footage broadcast on state TV earlier Wednesday being held aloft by hundreds of soldiers who were chanting “Oligui president.”
Asked why Bongo had been toppled, he told the newspaper: “There was discontent in Gabon and beyond this discontent there was the head of state’s illness. Everyone is talking about it, but no one was doing anything about it.
“He had no right to do a third term. The Constitution had been trampled on. The electoral process was not the right one. So the army decided to turn the page and do something.”
Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 which side-lined him from public life for 10 months and left him with mobility problems and speaking difficulties.
