Gabon military coup- President Bongo placed under house arrest - BBC News
Gabon military coup- President Bongo placed under house arrest - BBC News
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00:00 Now, the president of Gabon, Ali Bongo, is reported to be under house arrest along with
00:05 members of his family after army officers claimed they've seized power.
00:09 They said they were annulling the results of Saturday's election in which President
00:13 Ali Bongo was declared the winner.
00:15 This is the moment the military made the announcement on national television.
00:18 "In the name of the people of Gabon and as guarantors of the institutions, we have decided
00:25 to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime.
00:29 To this end, the general elections of the 26th of August, 2023 and the truncated results
00:34 are cancelled.
00:36 The borders are closed until further notice.
00:39 All the institutions of the Republic are dissolved."
00:41 Well, now let's cross live to Michael Amoah, who's a visiting senior fellow specialising
00:51 in politics and international relations at the London School of Economics.
00:56 Thanks very much for joining us.
00:57 Let's start with the basics here.
00:58 Gabon is a country that we don't talk about every day here on the BBC.
01:02 What exactly is going on at the moment?
01:06 What exactly is going on at the moment is actually that there's been a recent election
01:11 and it would appear that the military are not quite happy about the results that have
01:17 been announced.
01:18 They are quite definitive that it was raped.
01:21 Now, Gabon has a history of the Omabongo family, the Odimba family ruling for several decades.
01:30 Omabongo Odimba ruled for 42 years and afterwards his son was imposed on the country and he's
01:38 now attempting his third consecutive presidential term and they're not quite happy about it.
01:44 And what usually tends to happen in Gabon is that after the elections, internet is shut
01:48 down so that opposition parties are not able to collate independently the results and the
01:54 government announces what they wish and get on with it.
01:57 And I think this time the country has had enough.
02:00 The military decided that they would have to intervene and that's what's happening at
02:04 the moment.
02:05 And tell us more about Ali Bongo and his family.
02:10 Well, Ali Bongo began to rule sometime in the 1960s and he ruled for 42 years.
02:17 And there are a couple of French military bases in Gabon and the agreement was that
02:23 any time there was an attempted coup that the military base would intervene on his behalf.
02:29 So he managed to hang on for 42 good years.
02:34 And afterwards, when he died, his son was, by the influence of France, his son was imposed
02:40 on the country.
02:42 And because of the military might on base, it has been impossible to really get rid of
02:48 him.
02:49 And I think that he's done the two terms.
02:52 The son, Odimba, has done the two, Ali Bongo has done the two terms, and it would appear
02:57 that he has attempted a third term.
03:00 And even the third term, the citizens are quite definitive that the election has been
03:04 rigged.
03:05 So I think that there has to be a way of intervening to stop the Omar Bongo monarchy, as it were.
03:15 Michael Omoa from the London School of Economics, thank you very much for bringing us more insight
03:19 on that developing story from Gabon.
03:22 [BLANK_AUDIO]