Gabon awaits next move from junta after coup ousts President Bongo

Gabon awaited the next move by its new military junta one day after it overthrew the government, named a new leader and detained long-standing President Ali Bongo in his residence.

The junta declared the takeover on national television before dawn on Wednesday and cancelled election results that minutes earlier had handed Bongo a third term in power, and would have extended his family's 56 years in power.

The coup is the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020, and the second - after Niger - in as many months. Most of the coups have occurred in Francophone countries.

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.

Gabon, an OPEC member, is a major oil and manganese producer whose ousted president also made strides to protect vast Gabon's pristine forests and endangered elephants.

But Bongo's popularity had worn thin amid claims of corruption, sham elections, and a failure to spend more of Gabon's oil revenues on the country's poor.

'A smokescreen'

While there were legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo's rule, his ousting is just a pretext to claim power for themselves, Gabon experts say.

“The timing of the coup, following the announcement of the implausible electoral results, and the speed with which the junta is moving suggests this was planned in advance,” said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

“While there are many legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, that has little to do with the coup attempt in Gabon. Raising those grievances is just a smokescreen,” he said.

Bongo 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign.

Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.