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BREAKING: The Free State of Gabon

by Oui Wed Aug 30th, 2023 at 12:15:52 PM EST

Another colonial headache of French President Emmanuel Macron ... which country will get his priority .. the model State of Democracy Gabon or the critical uranium ore mining for Areva in Niger ... colonialism is hell for the Élisée 😡 Gabon 🇬🇦 Niger 🇳🇪 Mali 🇲🇱 Burkina Faso 🇧🇫

Where are Jake the Snake and Vicky Nuland, the Ukrainian putschist,  when there is action on the interference front?

Gabon military officers declare coup after Ali Bongo wins disputed election | The Guardian |

Seizure of power announced on television, cancelling election results that gave president third term in office

People power as new African founded democracy, ridding the nation from colonial shackles.


Gabon: President Ali Bongo under house arrest, according to military putschists | Africa News |

Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba is "under house arrest" surrounded by his family and doctors, and one of his sons has been arrested, notably for "high treason", the military behind a coup d'état announced on Wednesday morning.

"President Ali Bongo is being kept under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors", according to a statement read out on state television by the military of the Comité de Transition et de Restauration des Institutions (CTRI).

Noureddin Bongo Valentin, son and close adviser to the head of state, Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, Mr. Bongo's chief of staff, Mohamed Ali Saliou, his deputy chief of staff, Abdul Hosseini, another presidential adviser, Jessye Ella Ekogha, special adviser and presidential spokesman, as well as the number one and two members of Mr. Bongo's all-powerful Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) "are under arrest". 

Bongo "have been arrested", continued the army colonel, who had read out a communiqué during the night announcing that the military were "putting an end to the regime".

They have been arrested for "high treason against the institutions of the State, massive misappropriation of public funds, organized international financial embezzlement, forgery, falsification of the signature of the President of the Republic, active corruption and drug trafficking", he added.

Running for a Third Term - No Shame

Ali Bongo Wins a Disputed Election

As the official results were read out, the military made their move ... wanting their cut at last.

Top Gardener from the EU, Vision on West Africa

STFU

Mind your own store 😠

The European Project imploding as we speak.

[Update-1]

France’s President Emmanuel Macron landed in Gabon on Wed 1 March 2023, the first stop of an Africa tour that will also take him to Angola, Congo Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo for the first time in his presidency. The trip, which follows the launch of France’s new Africa policy, is focused away from the country’s troubled former colonies in West Africa’s Sahel region where anti-French sentiment is on the rise.

Gabon: Bongo, Macron take part in a summit to protect rainforests

French interference in Africa is ’over’, Macron says during four-nation tour to rebuild ties | France24 |

President Emmanuel Macron said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties. Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing in the region. [after years of neglect and a few decades too late]

Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa ahead of an environment summit in Gabon, the first leg of his trip.

“The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in the capital Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.

“Sometimes I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read, hear and see people ascribing intentions to France that it doesn’t have.”

“Francafrique” is a favourite target of pan-Africanists, who say that after the wave of decolonisation in 1960 France propped up dictators in its former colonies in exchange for access to resources and military bases.

Macron and his predecessors, notably Francois Hollande, have previously declared that the policy is dead and that France has no intention of meddling in sovereign affairs.

Emmanuel had his fingers crossed behind his back … unless the countries are spelled M A L I or N I G E R of course. 😂

Credibility by Colman on April 28th 2006

Display:
< wipes tears >
by Cat on Wed Aug 30th, 2023 at 04:46:05 PM EST
State.gov | Security Alert - U. S. Embassy Libreville, 1 Sep
The U.S. Embassy has received reports the borders are currently closed.  The Libreville airport is open for domestic flights; international flights remain suspended until further notice.

peaceau.org | Communique of the 1172nd of the PSC held on 31 August 2023, on the situation in the Republic of Gabon, 1 Sep

[...]
Acting under Article 7 of its Protocol, the Peace and Security Council,

  1. Reiterates its deep concern over the resurgence of military coups d'états, as they undermine democracy, peace, security and stability, as well as development on the Continent;

  2. Strongly condemns the 30 August 2023 military coup d'état in the Republic of Gabon, which ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, thereby interrupting the constitutional order in the country; and welcomes the Press Release of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, issued on 30 August 2023, and the Communique of the ECCAS Commission, also issued on 30 August 2023, on the Political Situation in the Gabonese Republic, following the coup d'état;

  3. Decides to immediately suspend the participation of the Republic of Gabon in all activities of the AU and its Organs and institutions until the restoration of constitutional order in the country, in line with the relevant AU instruments, in particular, the AU Constitutive Act and the Protocol Relating to the Establishment of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union;

  4. Demands the immediate restoration of constitutional order through the conduct of free, fair, credible and transparent elections that would be observed by the AU Election Observer Mission and the concerned region;
[...]
  1. Strongly rejects any external interferences by any actor or country outside the Continent in the peace and security matters in Africa, including engagements by private military companies in the Continent in line with the 1977 OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa; and

  2. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.
aljazeera | Gabon coup leader: No rush to elections and 'the same mistakes', 2 Sep
[...]
"Our aim is to move as quickly as possible, quickly but surely. Moving as quickly as possible doesn't mean organising elections in a rush where we'll end up with the same mistakes, where the same people will continue in power, and it all comes back to the same thing," Nguema said in a televised address on Friday night.
[...]
Duffel bags stuffed with cash
Gabon's main opposition group, Alternance 2023, which says it is the rightful winner of the election, urged the international community on Friday to encourage the generals to hand power back to civilians.
[...]
Military leaders ordered the arrest of one of Bongo's sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several members of Bongo's cabinet on accusations ranging from alleged embezzlement to narcotics trafficking.

State broadcaster Gabon 24 said on Thursday that duffel bags stuffed with cash wrapped in plastic had been confiscated from the homes of various officials. Its footage included a raid on the house of former cabinet director Ian Ghislain Ngoulou. Standing next to Bongo Valentin, he told the channel the money was part of Bongo's election fund. It was unclear when the images were shot.

Lawyers for Bongo's wife Sylvia said on Friday that Bongo Valentin was being held in an undisclosed location, and the family is concerned about his safety.
[...]

Agence Gabonaise de Presse, 2 Sep
Minlama Methogho favorable à la mise en place d'un comité réconciliation nationale
[...]
Pour lui, la question de la durée de la transition ne devrait pas inquiéter les gabonais, c'est pourquoi il les a donc invité à se concentrer d'abord sur les objectifs, car c'est à partir de là que la durée de la transition pourra être définie de façon réaliste.
le président de la transition prêtera serment le lundi 4 septembre prochain
[...]
Le Comité pour la Transition et la Restauration des Institutions a également instruit aux directeurs et Secrétaires généraux d'assurer la continuité du fonctionnement de l'administration gabonaise jusqu'à nouvelle ordre.

Le Général de Brigade a, par ailleurs, tenu à rassurer, dans son communiqué, l'ensemble des bailleurs de fonds, les partenaires au développement, ainsi que les créanciers de l'Etat, que toutes les dispositions seront prises afin de garantir les engagements du Gabon, aussi bien sur le plan extérieur qu'intérieur.

Aussi, le président de la transition a décidé le rétablissement temporaire de la Cour constitutionnelle, de la mise en place progressive des institutions de la transition et de la reprise des vols domestiques et bien d'autres de mesures.

by Cat on Sun Sep 3rd, 2023 at 02:15:51 AM EST
fr.infosgabon | France-Gabon: Military cooperation suspended, 2 Sep
Paris announced yesterday Friday unilaterally to interrupt its support for Libreville after the coup by the Committee for the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions.  

In an interview given yesterday Friday in the columns of Le Figaro, the French Minister of the Armed Forces announced the suspension of military cooperation with Gabon. Sébastien Lecornu says he is waiting to see more clearly after the situation that has prevailed in the country since the advent of the Committee for the Transition and the Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) led by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema. "As far as the military presence is concerned, these are soldiers who do training and who have always been alongside the Gabonese army. At present, their activities have been suspended until the political situation clarifies," he said.

About 400 French Elements from Gabon (EFG) are present at the Libreville military base called "Camp de Gaulle" near the airport where they have a private terminal. They also have several combat training and hardening centers in the country.
###

by Cat on Sun Sep 3rd, 2023 at 02:19:54 AM EST
Point of view ... looking from the Inside Out is less depressing than looking from the Outside In. 60 Years of Bongo & Bongo in power and wealth taken from We the People. Africa's exceptionalism. Françafrique

Gabon's opposition leader claims coup is a 'family affair' | Africa News |

The next day, the military announced that General Brice Oligui Nguema would be sworn in as "President of the Transition" on Monday.

But in an interview with French media outlet, TV5 Monde on Thursday, Albert Ondo Ossa, he described the coup as a "family affair" and a "palace revolution" aimed at keeping them in power.

"Oligui Nguema is Ali Bongo's cousin. The campaign was 60 years of Bongo is too much. The Bongos have decided to put Ali Bongo aside and continue their system by putting in place a Bongo CEO system," he said, "And they have put forward Oligui Nguema. In this way the Bongo system continues."

His comments came days after the military seized power putting Bongo under house arrest, accusing him of irresponsible governance that risked leading the oil-rich country into chaos.

"Behind Oligui Nguema, there is no need to look far, it's Pascaline Bongo (Ali Bongo's sister). That's all. She stands behind Oligui Nguema, and the Bongo clan continues being in power."

"It's a palace revolution, so there's no military coup. The proof is that it was the praetorian guard that carried out the palace revolution. The other soldiers were not involved," said Ondo Ossa.

Albert Ondo Ossa: 'Everything must be done so that General Oligui Nguema hands over power to me' | Le Monde |

The main opponent to Gabon's President Ali Bongo, who believes he won the elections that were voided by the military coup leaders, tells Le Monde that France 'must be more coherent and draw the right conclusions from its condemnation' of the putsch.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Sep 3rd, 2023 at 06:23:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]


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