France “condemned” this Wednesday the “military coup in progress in Gabon”, announced the spokesman for the French government, Olivier Véran, adding that Paris “is closely monitoring the evolution of the situation”.
French diplomacy “reaffirms” the hope that the election result “can be respected”, Véran added at the press conference that followed the weekly meeting of the French Council of Ministers.
A group of Gabonese soldiers announced today on the country’s public television the cancellation of the presidential elections that re-elected Ali Bongo Ondimba on Saturday and the dissolution of all democratic institutions.
Hours earlier, in the middle of the night, at 03:30 (same time in Lisbon), the Gabon Electoral Center (CGE, in its French acronym) had made public on state television, without prior notice, the official results of the elections. presidential election.
The electoral commission announced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in power for 14 years, won a third term in Saturday’s elections with 64.27% of the votes cast, defeating his main rival, Albert Ondo Ossa, who obtained 30.77% of the votes.
The announcement was made at a time when Gabon was under a curfew and internet access was suspended across the country, measures imposed by the government on election day Saturday.
Ali Bongo was first elected in 2009, following the death of his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had ruled Gabon for more than 41 years.
Omar Bongo was one of France’s closest allies in the post-colonial era, and Ali is a regular in Paris, where his family owns a vast portfolio of properties, which is under investigation by anti-corruption magistrates.
Emmanuel Macron visited Gabon last March, where he participated in the Forest Summit, a visit that was seen by some opposition figures as a show of support for Bongo ahead of the presidential elections.
In an apparent response, in a speech in Libreville, the then French president denied any ambition to intervene in Africa, stating that the era of interference “has ended”.
Following the coup in Niger on July 26, France refused to recognize the military regime and vowed to support the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), some of which support military action against the putschists. and last Monday Emmanuel Macron referred to an “epidemic” of coups in the French-speaking African region.
Likewise, the head of French diplomacy, Catherine Colonna, stated in early August that the coup in Niger was “another coup.”
Source: TSF
