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Gabon’s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state on September 4, less than a week after ousting President Bongo whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades
Gabon’s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state on September 4, less than a week after ousting President Bongo whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than five decades. Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace in front of a packed room of government officials, military, and local leaders in Gabon’s capital, Libreville.
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Oligui is a cousin of the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba. He served as a bodyguard to his late father and is head of the republican guard. Oligui said the military had seized power without bloodshed and promised to return power to the people by organizing free, transparent, and credible elections. He also said that during the transition time, experienced people will run the government for the good of the people.
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The mutinous soldiers who toppled Bongo last week said the deposed leader risked leading the country into chaos and they then unanimously designated Oligui president of the transitional committee. Bongo, who had been president for 14 years, was ousted hours after being declared the winner of a vote. The poll was rife with irregularities and lacking transparency.
Bongo had served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years. Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering, and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability. EU said that the coup in Gabon is different from that of Niger since there are evidence of electoral manipulation in the poll in which Bongo came into power.
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Gabon’s opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, did not comment on the inauguration. But earlier, he said that he didn’t consider the president’s ousting to be a coup but rather a palace revolution in order to continue the Bongo family’s reign. The former French colony is a member of OPEC. Its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few — and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was US$6 billion in 2022.
