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  • 2 years ago
In a stunning development in the Central African nation of Gabon, Army officers appeared on national television just hours back to say they have taken power. They said they were annulling the results of Saturday's election, in which President Ali Bongo was declared the

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Transcript
00:00 In a stunning development in the Central African nation of Gabon, army officers appeared on
00:07 national television just hours back to say that they have taken power.
00:11 They said they were annulling the results of Saturday's election in which President
00:15 Ali Bongo was declared the winner.
00:18 This bloodless coup has been declared by a group of senior Gabonese military officers
00:22 who have declared that they have seized power, claiming that the recent general election
00:27 lacks credibility and saying that they represent all of Gabon's security and defence forces.
00:33 They also said the election results were cancelled, all borders closed until further notice and
00:38 state institutions were being dissolved.
00:40 "In the name of the Gabonese people, we have decided to defend the peace by putting
00:44 an end to the current regime," the officers said on live television.
00:49 The group have declared themselves members of the Committee of Transition and the Restoration
00:54 of Institutions.
00:55 The state institutions they declared dissolved include the government, the Senate, the National
01:00 Assembly, the Constitutional Court and the election body.
01:04 Gabon's incumbent president Ali Bongo had just won a third term in the presidential
01:08 election with 64.27 per cent of the vote yesterday after a delay plagued the general election
01:15 that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.
01:17 Tensions were already running high amid fears of unrest after Saturday's presidential,
01:22 parliamentary and legislative vote which saw Bongo seeking to extend his family's 56-year
01:28 grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil and coca-rich but poverty-stricken
01:33 nation.
01:34 In 2016, the parliament building was torched when violent street protests had erupted against
01:40 Bongo's contested re-election for his second term.
01:43 The government had shut down internet access for several days at that time.
01:47 This current coup in Gabon, if successful, would represent the eighth in West and Central
01:52 Africa since 2020.
01:54 Coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger have all undermined democratic progress.
02:01 In July, the military had snatched power in Niger, sending shockwaves across the Sahel
02:06 and sucking in global powers with strategic interests at stake.
02:09 -
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