President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 at U.N. headquarters.

Mary Altaffer/AP

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Mary Altaffer/AP

President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022 at U.N. headquarters.

Mary Altaffer/AP

DAKAR, Senegal — Mutinous troopers in Gabon stated Wednesday they have been overturning the outcomes of a presidential election that was to increase the Bongo household’s 55-year maintain on energy.

The central African nation’s election committee introduced that President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, had gained the election with 64% of the vote early Wednesday morning. Within minutes, gunfire was heard within the heart of the capital, Libreville.

A dozen uniformed troopers appeared on state tv later the identical morning and introduced that they’d seized energy.

The troopers supposed to “dissolve all institutions of the republic,” stated a spokesman for the group, whose members have been drawn from the gendarme, the republican guard and different components of the safety forces.

The coup try took place one month after mutinous troopers in Niger seized energy from the democratically elected authorities, and is the most recent in a sequence of coups which have challenged governments with ties to France, the area’s former colonizer.

Unlike Niger and two different West African international locations run by army juntas, Gabon hasn’t been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as comparatively secure.

In his annual Independence Day speech Aug. 17, Bongo stated “While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilization. Never.”

At a time when anti-France sentiment is spreading in lots of former colonies, the French-educated Bongo met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in late June and shared images of them shaking fingers.

The coup’s leaders vowed to respect “Gabon’s commitments to the national and international community.”

Bongo was looking for a 3rd time period in elections this weekend. He served two phrases since coming to energy in 2009 after the demise of his father, Omar Bongo, who dominated the nation for 41 years. Another group of mutinous troopers tried a coup in January 2019, whereas Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, however they have been shortly overpowered.

In the election, Bongo confronted an opposition coalition led by economics professor and former training minister Albert Ondo Ossa, whose shock nomination got here per week earlier than the vote.

There have been considerations about post-election violence, as a consequence of deep-seated grievances among the many inhabitants of some 2.5 million. Nearly 40% of Gabonese ages 15-24 have been out of labor in 2020, in accordance with the World Bank.

After final week’s vote, the Central African nation’s Communications Minister, Rodrigue Mboumba Bissawou, introduced a nightly curfew from 7 p.m. to six a.m., and stated web entry was being restricted indefinitely to quell disinformation and requires violence.

Every vote held in Gabon because the nation’s return to a multi-party system in 1990 has resulted in violence. Clashes between authorities forces and protesters following the 2016 election killed 4 folks, in accordance with official figures. The opposition stated the demise toll was far greater.

Fearing violence, many individuals within the capital went to go to household in different components of the nation earlier than the election or left Gabon altogether. Others stockpiled meals or bolstered safety of their properties.