Gabon Army Announce Seizure Of Power From President Bongo

A dozen of Gabonese army officers on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, appeared on the country’s state television to announce the seizure of power from the President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba, otherwise known as Ali Bongo.

According to them, they have taken power from the Bongo, adding that that they were declaring invalid, the results of an election held on Saturday, August 26, 2023, in which he was declared the winner.

The electoral commission had declared Bongo, who is now under house arrest, winner of under two-thirds of the votes in an election the opposition argued was fraudulent.

The oil producing country  becomes the latest in Africa to suffer an attempted coup, only weeks after mutinous troops seized power in Niger. Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad have all suffered same fate recently.

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The officers who  introduced themselves as members of the Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institution said, “Today the country is undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis,” the officers said in a statement, saying the 26 August election lacked transparency and credibility. “In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime.”

President Ali Bongo’s overthrow would end his family’s 53-year hold on power in Gabon.