Headline August 30, 2023
A group of soldiers seized Gabonese state television, where they announced the cancellation of the recent presidential election and claimed to have seized power.
Colonel in the Gabonese Army: “The general elections of August 26, 2023 will be cancelled, as will the truncated results. The limits [del país] They are closed until further notice. All institutions of the republic will be dissolved.”
Earlier, Gabon’s national electoral authority announced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been re-elected to a third term in Saturday’s national elections marred by voting delays and that opposition leader Albert Ondo Ossa had called it a fraud. Bongo, who is reportedly under house arrest, has already served two seven-year sentences and his family has ruled for more than half a century. Some critics accuse Bongo of failing to use the West African country’s oil and land wealth to improve the lives of a third of its poor population. Although Gabon liberated itself from French rule in 1960, the French oil company TotalEnergies is the main distributor of Gabon petroleum products. As soldiers swept through the capital Libreville, residents took to the streets to show their support. If the coup is successful, it would be the eighth coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.