<img src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/664/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/556/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/600/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/664/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/700/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/30/0/0/2500/1406/800/0/75/0/4837103_5136756-01-06.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="Screenshot of the video broadcast on the Gabon 24 channel showing Gabonese soldiers announcing on television, on August 30, that they were " putting="" an="" end="" to="" the="" current="" regime"="" and="" canceling="" election="" which,="" according="" official="" results,="" had="" been="" won="" by="" president="" ali="" bongo="" ondimba."="" width="100%" height="auto">
Just minutes after the announcement of the official results confirming Ali Bongo's unsurprising re-election to a third term in office, a dozen soldiers burst onto television on the night of Tuesday, August 29, proclaiming the dissolution of "all the institutions of the Republic" and the "end of the regime." Gathered as a Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), these soldiers, drawn from various corps of the Gabonese army, justified their coup on the Gabon 24 channel, housed within the presidency, on the grounds of the "serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis" their country is going through.
In their statement, read out by one of their own, the military and police officers considered that "the organization of the elections [held on August 26] did not meet the conditions for a transparent, credible and inclusive ballot so much hoped for by the Gabonese people. This is compounded by irresponsible and unpredictable governance, which has led to a steady deterioration in social cohesion, threatening to drive the country into chaos."
At the time of their declaration, automatic weapons fire could be heard across several districts in Libreville, the capital. The soldiers, who included members of the Republican Guard, the government's praetorian guard, also announced the closure of the country's borders. While it is still too early to say what the outcome of this coup attempt will be, it came on the heels of the publication of the official results of Saturday's presidential election. According to the figures released in the middle of the night by the president of the Gabonese Elections Center (CGE), Michel Stéphane Bonda, the incumbent president, Ali Bongo Odimba, obtained 64.27% of the vote, while his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, garnered just 30.77% of the vote.
"They overturned the results, which according to initial trends gave us more than 70% % of the vote, so part of the army took responsibility. President-elect Ondo Ossa is serene and will react later," explained Mike Jocktane, his campaign manager, on Wednesday morning, without condemning or approving of the military's entry onto the scene.
One of the Bongo regime's senior executives, contacted by Le Monde, said he could say "nothing at this time" and had no information on the fate of the president, Ondimba. Re-elected in 2016 amid protests and violence, Ondimba had already been the victim of an attempted coup d'état in January 2019, just two months after a stroke that considerably weakened him, but this had quickly turned sour.
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