LIBREVILLE: Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday and had put President Ali Bongo under house arrest, stepping in minutes after the Central African state's election body announced he had won a third term.
The officers who said they represented the armed forces declared on television that the election results were cancelled, borders were closed and state institutions were dissolved, after a tense vote without international observers that was set to extend the Bongo family's more than half century in power.
Hundreds of people celebrated the military's intervention, while France, Gabon's former colonial ruler which has troops stationed in the African nation, condemned the coup.
In another statement, the officers said they had detained Bongo, who took over in 2009 from his father Omar, who had ruled since 1967.
Opponents say the family has done little to share the state's oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people. Violent unrest had broken out after Bongo's disputed 2016 election win and there was a foiled coup attempt in 2019.
The Gabon officers, calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, said the country faced "a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis". They said the Aug. 26 vote was not credible.
It was not clear who was leading the coup, but television images showed a man in fatigues and a green beret held aloft by soldiers shouting "Oligui president", a possible reference to Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of Gabon's Republican Guard.
Despite the brief sound of gunfire in the capital shortly after the officers made their first announcement, the streets of Libreville were calm until celebrations erupted. Police officers fanned out to guard major city intersections.
Bongo, 64, was last seen in public casting his vote on Saturday. Before the vote, he had been seen in public looking healthier than more frail television appearances after he suffered a stroke in 2019.
"We condemn the military coup and recall our commitment to free and transparent elections," French government spokesman Olivier Veran said.
The coup creates more uncertainty for France's presence in the region. France has about 350 troops in Gabon. Its forces have been kicked out of Mali and Burkina Faso after coups there in the last two years.
China called for a peaceful resolution and Russia said it hoped for a swift return to stability. — Reuters
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