Quick Dip: Military Intervention in Gabon

Military officers in Gabon have declared a coup after seizing power from the recently elected President Ali Bongo. He has now been put under house arrest. This comes after the legitimacy of the recent Gabonese elections was scrutinized due to the ‘dynastic style politics’ at play seeing as Bongo's third term of presidency since 2009 would have seen the extension of his family's 55 year rule in the Central African country. 

Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, was the country’s second president for almost 42 years from 1967 to 2009. It is evident that his continued control, spanning more than five decades, has led to a deep resentment for his nepotism masking democracy in the country. Crowds took to the streets in the capital Libreville and sang the national anthem to celebrate the coup attempt against a ‘self-serving dynasty’ accused of corruption by accumulating its wealth from the country’s natural resources while many of its citizens are struggling. 

The Gabon junta has named General Brice Oligui Nguema as the country’s transition leader. He is said to be one of the most influential and enigmatic figures in the country today, having served as a commander in the former President Omar Bongo’s Republic Guard and was later promoted to head of the guard by the now ousted president. The guard has since annulled the election results and dissolved all government institutions. 

Although the overhaul of power by the Bongo family is a major factor in the coup, experts in the field have stated that this military intervention should be seen in the context of the other interventions in the neighboring Francophone countries, with Mali, Burkina Faso and most recently Niger having overthrown their political leaders in military coups. This is the second coup in Africa this year and the sixth from a Francophone country in the past three years. 

This is showing the evidential pattern of African countries seeking to break ties with their former colonial leaders and to gain autonomy for their countries by outsing political leaders who are seen to allow Western countries to exploit their resources such as oil and the very important energy source uranium, causing the rest of the population to lack basic human needs. 

Many have long worried about the inherent instability that the French system left after it ended its direct colonial control across the continent. The mélange of political manipulation, financial control and extractive commercial enterprise, despite giving these countries their independence over 50 years ago is deeply entrenched in the hearts of both the people and the military of these countries and is beginning to manifest in the form of these military interventions.

Image Credits: Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Edited by GorStra Team