AU condemns Gabon coup, as military places Bongo ‘in retirement’
By Wilson Adekumola
The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has strongly condemned what he described as an attempted coup in Gabon.
Faki made this condemnation on Wednesday after the Gabonese soldiers declare they had toppled the democratically elected President Bongo Ondimba government.
Rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state had on Wednesday morning announced that they had seized power following disputed elections, in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba had been declared victor.
This is just as President Ali Bongo had “been placed in retirement”.
The head of his presidential guard told Le Monde newspaper about the ‘retirement’ on Wednesday after rebel officers said they had toppled him.
“He has been placed in retirement. He has all his rights. He’s an ordinary Gabonese person, like everyone,” Brice Oligui Nguema said.
Nguema denied that he had become the leader of the putsch.
The 64-year-old Bongo, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.
In a statement published on the AU website in French, said, “(Faki) is following with great concern the situation in the Gabonese Republic and strongly condemns the attempted coup d’etat in the country as a way of resolving its current post-electoral crisis.”
He, “calls on the national army and security forces to adhere strictly to their republican vocation, to guarantee the physical integrity of the president of the republic, members of his family as well as those of his government”.
The AU commission chief also described Wednesday’s events as a “flagrant violation” of the legal and political instruments of the Addis Ababa-headquartered African Union.
“(Faki) encourages all political, civil and military actors in Gabon to favour peaceful political paths leading to the rapid return to democratic constitutional order in the country,” it added.
