2023-08-31 18:41:08
“The (AU Peace and Security) Council decides to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all the activities of the AU, its bodies and institutions until the reestablishment of the constitutional order in the country”, said this body on the social network X (formerly Twitter). “The Council strongly condemns the military seizure of power in the Republic of Gabon which overthrew President Ali Bongo“, added in a brief message, without adding more details.
As reported to EFE by a diplomatic source from the organization who requested anonymity, the AU has also asked the Gabonese parties and the presidential candidates who ran in the last general elections to agree on a transition road map to restore constitutional order and reorganize voting.
Likewise, the same source indicated that the Council made the decision to form a high-level team with the responsibility of facilitating a civil transition. The organization launched this message after a group of Gabonese soldiers seized power in their country on Wednesday.
The coup leaders assured that the controversial elections held on the 26th – which gave victory to President Ali Bongo and were questioned by the opposition – were not transparent, credible or inclusive, and they accused the Executive of governing “irresponsibly and unpredictably”, thus deteriorating way “social cohesion”.
President Bongo under house arrest
In addition, they placed Bongo under house arrest for “high treason against state institutions” and “massive embezzlement of public funds,” among other crimes, and announced the appointment of General Brice Oligui Nguema, commander of the country’s Republican Guard, as new “transitional president”.
The president of the Commission (secretariat) of the AU, Moussa Faki Mahamat, yesterday condemned the coup and described it as a “flagrant violation of the legal and political instruments” of the pan-African organization. The condemnation was added by the secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, although he warned that there were irregularities in the electoral process that gave Bongo victory.
Bongo’s family – who inherited the position of president after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009 – has been in power since 1967. The coup in Gabon, one of sub-Saharan Africa’s oil powerhouses, is the second which takes place in just over a month in Africa, after the Army took power in Niger on July 26.
Gabon thus joined the list of countries that have had successful coups in the last three years and which, in addition to Niger, includes Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Guinea-Conakry (September 2021), Sudan (October 2021) and Burkina Faso (January and September 2022).
jov (efe, TribuneDeGenève)
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