From West Africa, with 4 military coups, Central Africa has now joined the fray, with senior Gabonese military officers claiming power.
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.
Gabon is an oil rich country that belongs to the Central African Economic and Monetary Community CEMAC, along with Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea.
The coup 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.
The whereabouts of President Ali Bongo is unknown.
Africa has witnessed a new wave of coups since August 2020 when the military took over in Mali.
The coup in Gabon is coming amid the move by the International Community, including ECOWAS, to resolve the removal of a democratically elected president in Niger Republic.