By Oyintari Ben
As pressure build on the military coup that ousted Gabon’s President Ali Bongo, the coup’s leader declared on Friday that he will avoid hastily holding elections that “repeat past mistakes.”
Minutes after it was announced that Bongo had won a third term in an election, military officers under General Brice Oligui Nguema took control of the country on Wednesday.
The officers ended the 56-year rule of the Bongo family by placing Bongo under house arrest and appointing Nguema as President.
The eighth coup in three years in West and Central Africa was met by applauding crowds in the nation’s capital, Libreville, but also with international and domestic criticism.
In a televised speech on Friday night, Nguema stated that the junta would move “quickly but surely” but would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same individuals in power.
Alexandra Pangha, a spokesperson for Alternance 2023 leader Albert Ondo Ossa, told the BBC, “We were happy that Ali Bongo was overthrown, but… we hope that the international community will stand up in favour of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians.”
She referred to the junta’s attempt to formally install Nguema as president on Monday as “absurd”.
