Senior army officers announced on live television a takeover of power in Gabon, MUK TV can report.
This will be the second coup attempt in the oil-rich country in 5 years after one was foiled by the people in 2019, resulting in the sentencing of the soldiers involved to 15 years imprisonment in 2021.
If successful, the military will bring the 56-year Bongo family dynasty and hegemony to a dramatic end.
President Ali Bongo took over from his father, Umar Bongo, who was president from 1967 until he died in 2009.
The ousted president has been in power since then, supervising fraudulent elections, including the recent one held five days ago, which saw him emerge as the winner with 52% of the total votes cast, according to the country’s election management body.
Gabon’s government blocked internet access and imposed a curfew on Saturday after an election marked by major voting delays, as the opposition cried foul over a poll they hoped would halt President Ali Bongo’s bid to extend his family’s 56-year grip on power.
The outcome of the election heightened tensions, forcing the military to intervene with this pronouncement. “We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime,” one of the soldiers said during the declaration.
This, he added, was down to “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos.”
President Bongo is partially paralyzed, as seen in a video circulated online, and was reported to have wet himself at a public gathering of African leaders in Paris a year ago.
This latest development adds to the wave of military coups that is spreading across the African continent.
