BREAKING: Potential military coup in Gabon
BREAKING: Potential military coup in Gabon
Television announcement comes shortly after incumbent Ali Bongo is declared president for a third term.
"Gabon military officers claim power, say election lacked credibility Television announcement comes shortly after state election body announces incumbent Ali Bongo had won a third term as president.
A group of senior military officers has gone on national television in Gabon saying they have seized power because elections held over the weekend were not credible.
The officers, appearing on Gabon24 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, said they had cancelled the elections, dissolved all state institutions and closed the country’s borders.
They said they represented all security and defence forces of Gabon.
The announcement came shortly after the state election body said President Ali Bongo Ondimba had won a third term in office in Saturday’s disputed elections.
“In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the officers said.
The Gabonese Election Centre said Bongo had secured 64.27 percent of the vote compared with 30.77 percent for his main challenger Albert Ondo Ossa, after a process beset by delays.
Further Context: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/08/26/gabon-will-ali-bongo-ondimba-rule-for-another-five-years_6108971_4.html
So is the new regime open to western investment/exploitation or are we about to hear about the "troubling human rights situation in Gabon"?
TIL about Gabon.
fuck Bongo, I don't know how the coup government will be but it'll be hard to do any worse. Power to the people, if this coup is actually for them ✊
Military coups generally don't give power to the people.
That's fairly reductive and inaccurate. The 1983 Upper Voltan coup d'état, the Carnation Revolution, and the Guatemalan Revolution are all examples to the contrary, and they are far from isolated exceptions to a rule.
I’ll freely admit I forgot this country existed since they’re never in the news in my country, what did this Bongo person do that was so bad the military is willing to take over like this? Other than a potentially fixed election I assume there must have been some prior acts to cause people to doubt this election’s legitimacy
The extremely short version is that he accepted a life of luxury bankrolled by the French in exchange for inducing poverty on his nation with aggressively extractive economic policies to the primary benefit of the French petroleum (and previously nuclear) industries. He's also the son of a French-appointed dictator who is basically continuing his father's platform to a tee.
Here's a fun little one-off story about the Bongo family https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/member-gabons-ruling-family-pascaline-bongo-puts-la-mansion-sale-14m-1610426 very Trump-style stuffing of the cabinet with family and funneling government funds into property for them to hold onto and also use
here's a story about Ali Bongo himself https://web.archive.org/web/20171117004922/http://observers.france24.com/en/20141223-luxury-cars-gabon-presidency-bongo-ali
Running for a third term is enough in my opinion. At no level do I vote for someone who has had two consecutive terms, they need to get out and see the real world outside of power.
Potential. They said so on Gabon's national tv channel.
It's unwise to assume truth regarding breaking news, especially when it's continents away. We mustn't so quickly forget the "Russian bombing" of Poland that wound up being a Ukrainian misfire. Panic damn near caused WW3.