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Gabon government says ‘situation under control’ rebels seized

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The government of Gabon declared that it was in control after an attempted coup by army rebels Monday and that it had arrested most of those involved.

“Calm has returned, the situation is under control,” government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou said.

Only hours earlier, soldiers burst into state radio and called on the people to “rise up,” an apparent bid to oust ailing President Ali Bongo, who is out of the country. Of the five who did this, according to Mapangou, “four have been arrested and one is on the run.”

African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat “strongly condemned” an attempted coup by the rebel soldiers. “The African Union strongly condemns the coup attempt this morning in Gabon. I reaffirm the AU’s total rejection of all unconstitutional change of power,” he wrote on Twitter.

The 59-year-old Bongo has not been back to Gabon since he fell ill in Saudi Arabia on October 24. It was revealed last month that he had suffered a stroke. In his absence, the Constitutional Court transferred part of the powers of the president to the prime minister and the vice president.

On December 31, Bongo addressed the country for the first time since falling ill, saying in a recorded speech from Morocco that he had “been through a difficult period. “The MPJFDS considers the speech “shameful” for a “country (which) has lost its dignity”, the officer said in the speech on state delivered Monday.

The Bongo family has governed the equatorial African nation for five decades. Ali Bongo was elected head of state after his father’s death in 2009. He was narrowly re-elected in 2016 following a presidential poll marred by deadly violence and allegations of fraud.

[Source; Times Live]
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