After a coup in August, a top U.S. official on African affairs says Gabon has to quickly return to civilian administration. However, the coup leaders have not yet announced a date for doing so.
Washington halted the majority of the country’s nonhumanitarian aid after a coup in August. In the Gabonese capital, Libreville, Judd Devermont, a special assistant to U.S. President Joe Biden, met with military officials on Thursday.
Devermont claimed to have met with both the military-installed prime minister Raymond Ndong Sima and the commander of the coup in Gabon, General Brice Oligui Nguema.
Devermont claimed that he concentrated on restoring constitutional order in Gabon during separate discussions with Nguema and Sima.
Devermont stated, “I travelled all the way from Washington to meet with the authorities to discuss the changeover to civilian control and holding free and fair elections. “President Biden is committed to strengthening our ties with partners, nations, and people in Africa, and we firmly stand in solidarity with the Gabonese people,” the statement reads.
Nguema underlined after the meeting that he would restore civilian control at the conclusion of the transition, although he did not specify when. This was according to Gabon official TV.
A “national dialogue” is slated to take place in December, according to the military administration of Gabon, which claims it informed the American delegation of this. Before holding elections, the military junta in Gabon, according to the interim government, is taking steps to restore stability, implement institutional and legislative reforms, combat corruption, ensure sustainable economic development, and improve living conditions for the country’s poor civilians.
After a group of military officers in Gabon took over on August 30 and placed President Ali Bongo Ondimba under house arrest, Nguema, a former Republican Guard commander, was sworn in as the country’s interim leader.
The Gabonese poll Centre had certified Bongo the winner of the August 26 poll just before the coup, but the opposition had called the vote a fraud.
The military then took over, claiming to have spared Gabon from an armed clash that the opposition was preparing for.
The American mission included Ellen Thorburn, the ambassador of the United States to Gabon.
She stated that the mission, which Biden deployed after hearing about the military junta’s plans to hold a national conversation before holding elections, expects that the transition to civilian authority will take place as soon as feasible.
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Thorburn claimed that during talks with Gabon’s new authorities, concerns about American assistance to the country after the military took control were brought up. She claimed that the Biden administration intended to have cordial ties with all African nations, including Gabon, and that it had informed Nguema and Ndong of this.
In order to assess the illegal military interference in the nation’s democracy, the U.S. this month froze foreign aid programmes that benefited the central African government.
However, they stressed that the military junta needed time to implement changes before a return to civilian administration. Coup leaders have warned that foreign sanctions imposed on Gabon by the African Union and the United Nations to compel Nguema to return to constitutional order could be catastrophic to the country’s economy.
In less than three years, according to Jean Cedric Obame Emane, a defence and security specialist at the University Omar Bongo in Gabon, Nguema can restore civilian authority.
On the day of the military takeover, “they [civilians] did not go out to challenge the military forces, they did not go to the street to engage the military troops,” Emane said. “The problem of legitimacy will always come up. “They (civilians) were having a party. I think he faces other difficulties besides just managing the election process. He is simultaneously dealing with social and economic problems. Not just elections are his biggest challenge.
Emane communicated with VOA from Libreville using a texting app.
The United States continues to conduct diplomatic and consular activities in the oil-rich nation of central Africa despite the suspension of aid.
