"We'll put them away – you never know, they might come in handy!" The young military officer quipped to his colleagues on Monday morning, September 4, as he put away two official portraits of Ali Bongo Ondimba in a closet in his office, which had previously hung on the walls of Libreville's Léon-Mba International Airport. The officer has no idea what use he could possibly find for the two paintings of his ex-president. But why bother destroying these long-gone images, which represent over 55 years of power in the hands of a single family? While it was only five days ago that Ondimba, who succeeded his father Omar in 2009, was deposed by a military coup, that already seems like an eternity.
For him, September 4 was the first day of a new era. Just moments later, Gabon's new strongman, General Nguema, took the oath of office. Impeccably dressed in the bright red uniform of the Republican Guard, his chest weighed down with all the country's decorations, he swore loyalty to his people, his country and democracy. A pledge made not following the customary path of the Constitution, as it had been suspended, but rather on the Transition Charter, which was written in record time. Its content is not yet known.
However, the new transitional president was keen to make a solemn commitment in the presence of all the judges of the Constitutional Court. With the notable exception of their president, Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo, placed under house arrest like a handful of other former officials, including Ali Bongo, his wife and their son. She was an essential cog in the Bongo regime's election-rigging machine. There is no doubt that she would have ultimately validated, the fraudulent results of the August 26 presidential election, which offered Ali Bongo a third term on a platter, as she did in 2016.
From now on, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Republican Guard is in charge. And according to the general, it was these electoral malpractices that spurred him into action. "Our country's defense and security forces assumed their responsibilities by rejecting the electoral coup that had just been declared by the Gabonese Elections Center, following an outrageously biased electoral process," he declared in a speech delivered in the wake of his swearing-in ceremony. "The defense and security forces had a twofold choice: either to kill Gabonese people who would have legitimately demonstrated or to put an end to an electoral process that was clearly rigged (...) It was with complete freedom and responsibility that we said no, never again in our beautiful country, Gabon," he added. In 2016, dozens of supporters of Jean Ping (the exact number has never been established) were killed when they contested their champion's defeat.
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