Analysts: Gabon’s leader’s ouster a ‘smokescreen’ for troops to seize power

Gabonese awoke on Thursday to a new military leader after mutinous soldiers ousted a president whose family had ruled the oil-rich Central African nation for more than five decades.
The new leader is Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, head of the elite republican guard unit, soldiers announced on state TV hours after President Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared winner of last week’s presidential election, which Gabonese and observers say was marred with irregularities and a lack of transparency.
The soldiers accused Bongo of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos and have put him under house arrest and detained several people in his cabinet, they said.
While there were legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, his ousting is just a pretext to claim power for themselves, Gabon experts say.
“The timing of the coup, following the announcement of the implausible electoral results, and the speed with which the junta is moving suggests this was planned in advance,” said Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies.
“While there are many legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, that has little to do with the coup attempt in Gabon. Raising those grievances is just a smokescreen,” he said.
Gabon’s coup is the eighth military takeover in Central and West Africa in three years and comes roughly a month after Niger’s democratically elected president was ousted.
Unlike Niger and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, which have each had two coups apiece since 2020 and are being overrun by extremist violence, Gabon was seen as relatively stable.