Another African country, another presidential guard goes rogue.
Today it was Gabon, as officers declared they had seized power and immediately set to shutting things down.
Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state’s election body announced Bongo had won a third term.
Saying they represented the armed forces, the officers declared on television that the election results were cancelled, borders closed and state institutions dissolved, after a tense vote that was set to extend the Bongo family’s more than half century in power.
Within hours, generals met to discuss who would lead the transition and agreed by unanimous vote to appoint General Brice Oligui Nguema, former head of the presidential guard, according to another televised address.
Gabon’s president, Ali Bongo, had just this morning been declared the winner of a disputed election on Saturday, winning some 64% of the vote.
Announcing the result in the early hours, CGE head Michel Stephane Bonda said Bongo’s main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had come in second place with 30.77%. Bongo’s team have rejected Ondo Ossa’s allegations of electoral irregularities.
…A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities’ decision to cut internet service and impose a nighttime curfew nationwide after the poll has raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.
Understandably, citizens were concerned that the results might not be as above board as the incumbent president was insisting, considering his election would mean his family maintained their uninterrupted 56-year-long grip on ruling the tiny, oil rich country.
…Bongo took over in 2009 on the death of his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967. Opponents say the family has done little to share the state’s oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people.
Violent unrest broke out after Bongo’s contested 2016 election victory, and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.
When word broke in the country itself, the people seemed to be jubilant and are treating the military like liberators.
🇬🇦 The PEOPLE are celebrating with the military in Gabon!
— Rev Laskaris (@REVMAXXING) August 30, 2023
The coup leaders have the president, his family and some of his advisors in custody in the presidential palace. The head of the presidential guard later reported President Bongo had been “placed in retirement.” I hope that’s not as sinister as it sounds, but it remains to be seen.
Once the putschists settled who was in charge – General Brice Oligui Nguema – they issued what I have to admit is a pretty level headed, sober statement. The president, they said, was “surrounded by his family and his doctors.”
“…People of Gabon, we are finally on the road to happiness. May God and the souls of our ancestors bless Gabon. Honor and loyalty to the fatherland…”
VIDEO: 🇬🇦 Gabon president under house arrest: coup leaders on state TV
In a statement broadcast on state television, military officers announce that Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been put under house arrest. pic.twitter.com/jMMHO4vOaK
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 30, 2023
But…hang on. This IS Africa.
What are the chances the new bosses are the same as the old boss?
You always want to wish for the best, and you hate to be a cynic, but…chances are probably pretty good.
BREAKING: Gabon’s military announce that Brice Oligui Nguema will be the country’s transitional president. He is said to be deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba’s cousin pic.twitter.com/RDlXLR7VTj
— Larry Madowo (@LarryMadowo) August 30, 2023
Kissin’ cousins, huh? Maybe there are even more family traits than just…oh. Hello..
The Bongo family has ruled Gabon for over five decades — and for nearly as long, they have been accused of looting their nation’s wealth. Authorities in France and the U.S. have over the years investigated bundles of cash, customized cars, and pricey properties, assets potentially purchased with proceeds of corruption.
Now reporters have discovered that over the past two decades, the Bongos and their inner circle — including a judge who has been instrumental in helping the family hang on to power — have purchased at least seven properties worth over US$4.2 million in and near the U.S. capital, a destination whose real estate has long attracted African dictators.
The Bongos’ Washington, D.C.-area homes were all purchased with cash.
…Not all the members of the extended Bongo family invested in prime D.C. real estate.
Brice Clotaire Oligui-Nguema, the president’s cousin, was recently appointed head of the elite military unit known as the Republican Guard, according to Gabonese news outlets. He bought three properties in middle- and working-class neighborhoods in the Maryland suburbs of Hyattsville and Silver Spring, just outside the capital, in 2015 and 2018. The homes were purchased with a total of over $1 million in cash.
He declined to respond to questions from reporters, saying: “I think whether in France or in the United States, a private life is a private life that [should be] respected.”
Well…huh.
I’ll bet the new boss General Nguema wants his “privacy” when he’s being asked awkward questions about his roomy pads in other countries.
Considering that being an African leader is kind of a tenuous position lately…
…The military takeover in Gabon is the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020, and the second – after Niger – in as many months. Military officers have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad, erasing democratic gains since the 1990s and raising fear among foreign powers that have strategic interests in the region.
…there’s no point in giving anyone any ammunition to take you out when you just got the big chair.
It IS Africa.
Read the full article here