Gabonese military officers seize power, say general elections lacked credibility

According to Al Jazeera, a group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television on Wednesday and claimed to speak for all of Gabon’s security and defense forces. They claimed that the country’s recent general elections were invalid and that they had taken control of the situation.

According to Al Jazeera, the officers claimed to have closed the country’s borders, dissolved all state institutions, and canceled the elections when they appeared on Gabon24 on Wednesday morning. After Burkina Faso and Niger, Gabon became the third country in Africa to experience a military coup. Shortly after the state election body declared that President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won a third term in office in Saturday’s contested elections, the recent announcement was made. “In the name of the Gabonese people,” the officers declared, “we have decided to defend the peace by overthrowing the current regime.”

The Gabonese Election Centre said Bongo had secured 64.27 per cent of the votes, significantly more than his main challenger Albert Ondo Ossa, who grabbed 30.77 per cent of the total votes polled, after a process beset by delays.