Washington urged Gabon’s military to preserve civilian rule, while the coup leaders named General Brice Oligui Nguema as the transitional president.
The United States late Wednesday urged Gabon’s military to preserve civilian rule, voicing concern after coup leaders ousted the entrenched president following disputed elections.
“We urge those responsible to release and ensure the safety of members of government and their families and to preserve civilian rule,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“The United States is deeply concerned by evolving events in Gabon. We remain strongly opposed to military seizures or unconstitutional transfers of power,” Miller said.
On Wednesday, leaders of the coup in Gabon named a general transitional president after seizing power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled for 55 years, was declared the winner.
The claimed takeover sparked condemnation from the African Union and alarm from Nigeria over “contagious autocracy” in a continent where military forces have seized power in five other countries since 2020.
Bongo, 64, who took over from his father Omar in 2009, was placed under house arrest, and one of his sons was arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.
TV images showed the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, being carried triumphantly by hundreds of soldiers to cries of “Oligui president.”
The coup leaders later named Oligui Nguema “transitional president,” according to a TV statement.
The coup began with a pre-dawn address in which officers declared that “all the institutions of the republic” had been dissolved, the election results canceled, and the borders closed.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
