Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was placed under house arrest after the military carried out a coup d’etat on Wednesday, called on “all friends” to “raise their voices” in a video clip that went viral on social media.
Bongo said in the video, in which he appeared sitting on a chair with features of concern: “I am Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon. “.
Ali Bongo, 64, who has been president of Gabon for more than 14 years, was declared victorious in Saturday’s elections, moments before the coup.
Bongo added in the video: “My son is in one place and my wife is in another, and I am in my house and nothing is happening, I do not know what is happening. I ask you to raise your voices.”
And his son, Noureddine Bongo Valentin, was “arrested” with 6 other advisors close to Bongo on charges of “high treason, embezzlement of public funds and forgery,” according to what the putschists announced at the end of the morning.
The military did not mention anything about the fate of his French Gabonese wife, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba.
Gabonese army officers said they seized power on Wednesday and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest after the election commission announced that he had won a third term.
The officers appeared on television throughout the night to announce the annulment of the election results, the closure of the country’s borders and the dissolution of state institutions, and they said they represented all Gabon’s security and defense forces.
Hundreds took to the streets of the capital, Libreville, to celebrate in the morning after the announcement, which was televised overnight and appeared to be filmed from the presidential palace, according to television footage.
In another statement on state television, army officers said they had detained Bongo, who took power in 2009 to succeed his father, Omar Bongo, after ruling the country since 1967.
Opponents say that this family has not done much to share the country’s oil and mining wealth with the citizens, who number about 2.3 million people.
The officers, who presented themselves as members of the Transition and Institutional Restoration Committee, said in a statement that Gabon “is going through an acute institutional, political, economic and social crisis”.
They added that the August 26 elections lacked transparency and integrity.
The last time President Ali Bongo, 64, appeared in public was when he cast his vote in the elections last Saturday.
He also appeared in public before the vote and appeared to be in better health than in rare TV appearances in which he appeared tired after a stroke he suffered in 2019.
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2023-08-30 11:58:35
