Despite increasing pressure, the leader of the Gabon coup would not rush into elections

As pressure rose on the junta to return power to a civilian government, the leader of the coup that ousted Gabon’s President Ali Bongo this week stated on Friday that he wished to avoid hastily holding elections that “repeat past mistakes.”

The military took control of the country on Wednesday shortly after it was announced that Bongo had won a third term in an election under the leadership of General Brice Oligui Nguema.

The officers ended the Bongo family’s 56-year reign of terror by placing Bongo under house arrest and appointing Nguema as president.

The eight coup in three years in West and Central Africa was cheered by throngs in the streets of the capital, Libreville, but it was also met with domestic and international censure.

In a televised speech on Friday night, Nguema promised that the junta will move “quickly but surely” while avoiding elections that would “repeat the same mistakes.”

“Going as swiftly as possible does not mean setting up ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same mistakes,” he warned.

Following an unusual meeting on Thursday, the regional group for Central Africa, ECCAS, issued a statement urging allies, led by the African Union and the United Nations, to assist a swift restoration of constitutional order. It stated it would meet again on Monday.

The major opposition party in Gabon, Alternance 2023, pleaded with the world community on Friday to pressurise the junta to return power to civilians and claim victory in Saturday’s election.

“We were happy that Ali Bongo was removed, but… we hope that the international community will stand up in favour of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians,” Alexandra Pangha, a spokesperson for Alternance 2023 leader Albert Ondo Ossa, told the BBC.

The junta’s attempt to formally install Nguema as president on Monday, according to her, is “absurd.”

Repression of the Bongo entourage

After his late father, who took office in 1967, was elected, Bongo succeeded him in 2009. The money from mining and oil in Gabon, according to critics, was not distributed by the family very much.

The Bongo family had lived for years in a magnificent palace that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean. A 2020 investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global network of investigative journalists, found that they frequently purchased their pricey automobiles and homes in France and the United States using cash.

In the meantime, 2.3 million of the nation’s inhabitants live in poverty.

A number of members of Bongo’s Cabinet and one of Bongo’s sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, were ordered to be arrested early on Wednesday on charges ranging from suspected embezzlement to drug trafficking.

The homes of several officials contained duffel bags filled with plastic-wrapped cash, according to a report on Thursday by the state channel Gabon 24. Its tape showed a search of Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, a former director of the Cabinet.

He revealed to the channel that the funds were a portion of Bongo Valentin’s election finance while standing next to him. When the photos were taken is unknown.

The family was worried for Bongo Valentin’s safety, according to lawyers for Bongo’s wife, who claimed that he was imprisoned in an undisclosed location.

On Friday, despite a significant security presence, Libreville’s streets were peaceful. The junta’s response was the topic of discussion.

Timothe Moutsinga, a retired inhabitant of Libreville, asserted that “politicians are needed to manage a transition, and a state is foremost.”

“We have high expectations for this administration and this transition, a handover of power to civilians.”

The coup in Gabon comes after overthrows in Guinea, Chad, and Niger, as well as two in each of Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020. In a region where insecurity and pervasive poverty have crippled elected administrations, the takeovers have undone democratic advances, which is worrisome for international powers with staked-out strategic interests.

The White House stated on Friday that it was working to find “viable diplomatic solutions” to the problems in both Gabon and Niger, where President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by a coup on July 26.

A complete vote count from the election on Saturday is something Alternance 2023 has stated it needs in order to verify Ondo Ossa’s victory. Following the voting, the election commission for Gabon reported that Bongo had received 64% of the vote, while Ondo Ossa had received close to 31%. While the internet was down, ballots were counted without the presence of any independent observers.

Pangha stated that the opposition was hoping to hear from the junta with an invitation to discuss the transition strategy for the Central African nation, but that it had not yet.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union called for free and transparent elections on Thursday. It declared that if the coup leaders do not reinstate constitutional order, it will apply sanctions on them.

Other Western nations and France, a former colonial power in Gabon, have denounced the coup.

Reuters