Gabon coup leaders name General Brice Oligui Nguema as new leader

Military officers who seized energy in a coup in Gabon on Wednesday have named Normal Brice Oligui Nguema because the West African state’s transitional chief.

Gen Nguema was earlier carried triumphally via the streets of the capital Libreville by his troops.

The deposed President, Ali Bongo, has appeared in a video at his house, calling on his “buddies all around the world” to “make noise” on his behalf.

The previous French colony is certainly one of Africa’s main oil producers.

Mr Bongo’s overthrow ended his household’s 55-year maintain on energy.

Military officers appeared on TV within the early hours of Wednesday to say that they had taken energy.

They mentioned that they had annulled the outcomes of Saturday’s election wherein Mr Bongo was declared the winner however which the opposition mentioned was fraudulent.

The officers additionally mentioned that they had arrested certainly one of Mr Bongo’s sons for treason.

Inside hours, generals met to debate who would lead the transition and agreed by a unanimous vote to nominate Gen Nguema, former head of the presidential guard.

Crowds in Libreville and elsewhere celebrated the military’s declaration.

However the coup was condemned by the UN, the African Union and France, which had shut ties to the Bongo household.

The US state division urged Gabon’s army to “protect civilian rule” and urged “these accountable to launch and make sure the security of members of presidency”. The UK condemned the “unconstitutional army takeover” of energy.

There has lengthy been simmering resentment of the Bongo household – it dominated Gabon for 55 years – and there was public discontent over broader points similar to the price of residing.

“At first I used to be scared, however then I felt pleasure,” a resident of Libreville, who requested anonymity, advised the BBC. “I used to be scared due to the realisation that I’m residing via a coup, however the pleasure is as a result of we have been ready for therefore lengthy for this regime to be overthrown.”

The place is Gabon? It is a nation wealthy in oil and minerals on the west coast of Central Africa, with a inhabitants of simply 2.4 million.

Who’s Ali Bongo? He was declared the winner of Saturday’s disputed elections and has been president since 2009. Earlier than that, his father was in energy for 41 years.

Why was there a coup? The military don’t settle for the election outcomes and say they took energy to maintain the peace.

Gen Nguema, 48, was absent from the primary three statements learn out by senior military officers on nationwide tv to announce the coup.

However he was named transitional chief quickly after, and was carried via the streets in jubilant scenes.

He was aide-de-camp to the ousted chief’s father, Omar Bongo, who dominated for nearly 42 years till his dying in 2009.

A former shut colleague advised AFP information company that Gen Nguema had been extraordinarily near Omar Bongo, serving him from 2005 till his dying in a Spanish hospital.

Underneath Ali Bongo he first labored as a army attache at Gabon’s embassies in Morocco and Senegal.

However in 2018 he was made intelligence chief underneath the elite republican guard – Gabon’s strongest military unit – changing Ali Bongo’s half-brother Frederic Bongo, earlier than getting promoted to basic.

As in earlier basic elections in Gabon, there have been severe considerations in regards to the course of in Saturday’s vote.

Most important opposition candidate Albert Ondo Ossa complained that many polling stations had lacked poll papers bearing his identify, whereas the coalition he represented mentioned the names of a few of those that had withdrawn from the presidential race had nonetheless been on the poll sheet.

Each of Mr Bongo’s earlier wins had been disputed as fraudulent by opponents. This time, controversial adjustments had been made to voting papers simply weeks earlier than election day.

In 2018, he suffered a stroke which sidelined him for nearly a yr and led to requires him to step apart.

The next yr, a failed coup try noticed mutinying troopers despatched to jail.