Gabonese ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba is “free to move” and “can travel abroad if he wishes,” General Brice Oligui Nguema, who ousted him a week ago, announced in a statement on state television.
Bongo, who has been in power for 14 years, has been under house arrest since the August 30 military coup, carried out without bloodshed less than an hour after Gabon’s electoral authorities announced the victory of ousted President Ali. Bongo in the disputed elections of July 26. .
The coup leaders placed Bongo, whose cousin Nguema, under house arrest for “high treason against state institutions” and “massive embezzlement of public funds,” among other crimes.
The coup in Gabon, one of the oil powers of sub-Saharan Africa, is the second in just over a month in Africa, after the army seized power in Niger on July 26.
Gabon joins the list of countries that have had successful coups in the last three years, which, in addition to Niger, includes Mali (August 2020 and May 2021), Guinea-Conakry (September 2021) , Sudan (October 2021) and Burkina. Faso (January and September 2022).
Source: TSF
