The African Union (AU) suspended the membership of Gabon on Thursday, following the ousting of President Ali Bongo by military officers according to multiple reports.
This marks the first regional response to the eighth coup that has occurred in West and Central Africa since 2020.
The coup effectively ends the Bongo family’s nearly sixty-year reign in power, posing a new challenge for a region grappling with a series of coups that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu described as a “contagion of autocracy.”
The military takeover of President’s Bongo rule was strongly condemned by the African Union, hence the reason why the Central African country participated in all activities of the AU and its institutions until democracy is restored.
Gabon joins Niger Republic, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, and Sudan as countries that have been suspended by the AU.
The swearing-in of General Nguema, the leader of the coup, was announced to occur at the constitutional court on Monday as declared by the army on state television.
The junta, responsible for the coup, declared its commitment to uphold all domestic and international obligations and to gradually establish transitional institutions. Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, spokesperson for Gabon’s recently formed Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), conveyed this message on state television the day after rebel officers removed Bongo from power.
The leader of the country’s coup, Nguema, expressed the intention to reassure donors, development partners, and creditors that all necessary measures would be taken to ensure the fulfilment of the nation’s commitments, both internally and externally, as stated by Manfoumbi.
Josep Borrell, a top EU diplomat in Brussels, in a statement dated August 31, reacted to the military takeover of President Bongo’s government, saying the European Union “rejects any seizure of power by force in Gabon.”
According to Borrel, “inclusive and substantive dialogue” was the preferred alternative to force to ensure respect for the rule of law, human rights, and the will of the Gabonese people.
In the early hours of Wednesday, the military seized and wrestled power from the hands of just elected third-term President of Gabon, Ali Bongo.
The news of the coup against Bongo was announced by the military on state television, stating that state institutions had been dissolved and the country’s borders closed.
The officers also revealed that the recent election which produced Ali Bongo as the president was fraudulent and as such had been annulled.
The deposed president is currently placed under house arrest in the Presidential Palace, however, Bongo released a video on Wednesday seeking support from “friends of Gabon”.
At the time of writing, the head of the Presidential Guard, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, is Gabon’s interim leader following the decision of Gabon military leaders on Wednesday.
