Ali Bongo had just announced his re-election when the military arrested him. On the streets, the army was celebrated as a liberator. After more than 55 years of Bongo management, the line does not seem to have been broken.
At the age of 19, Ali Bongo tried his hand at a career as a singer. For “Monsieur Fils,” “Herr Sohn,” as the deposed president was called in his home country at the time, it was one of many pastimes.
Ali Bongo led a life of luxury, including in Paris and on the Cote d’Azur, where the family owns numerous properties. His father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled Gabon since 1967, was at the time ranked by Transparency International as one of the richest men in the world. He is said to have amassed part of this fortune by accepting bribes for oil exploration licenses.
Gabon has great mineral resources – in addition to oil, for example, uranium, iron ore and manganese, which is important for the automotive industry. It wasn’t until 2009 that life got serious for Ali Bongo. After more than 40 years in office, his father died and the son was to follow in his footsteps. During the election campaign, Ali Bongo tried to shed the image of the spoiled luxury boy.
Is it a crime to own a Ferrari? If I have killed someone, if I have thrown someone in jail, if I have stolen from someone – these would be crimes.
Opposition accused Bongo of electoral fraud
According to the official result, he won the following presidential elections. But even then the opposition spoke of manipulation. Just like after the vote last weekend. Ali Bongo wanted to be celebrated as a winner again. Instead, he was detained by soldiers in his residence.
From there he turned to his supporters with a cry for help. “I’m Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, and I’m sending a message to all my friends around the world: get loud, get loud,” he said in a video.
People celebrate in the streets of Akanda in Gabon, holding the national flag in their hands.
“The army liberated our country”
But he doesn’t seem to have much support anymore. On the streets of the capital, Libreville, people celebrated the end of the bongo era.
Even before the elections, young people in particular had called for a change. She no longer wants to accept the injustice that in a rich country like Gabon, a third of the population lives in poverty. The dismissal of Ali Bongo gives hope to many. “August 30 is now our Independence Day,” said a young man in the crowd. “The army liberated our country.”
Military: Gabon was no longer a democracy
The group of military and security forces that announced the coup on state television calls itself the Committee for Transition and Institutional Restoration. Gabon was no longer a democracy, they say. That’s why the army decided to intervene.
“Our beautiful country, Gabon, has always been a peaceful haven,” said a military spokesman. “But today we are going through a serious political, economic and social crisis.”
The former colonial power France condemned the coup. She had once helped Omar Bongo into office and for a long time held her hand protectively over the family. Most recently there had been coups in other former French colonies such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
But the putschists’ agenda is different, says political analyst and Africa expert Wilson Khembo. “I think the coup in Gabon is different from the others. In the other countries, the military was driven by a hunger for power,” he explains. “But in Gabon, the putschists apparently want to reinstate constitutional rights. They feared that the country was moving too far away from democracy.”
It stays in the family
The new president is to be the previous head of the Republican Guard, Brice Oligui Nguema. A man from Ali Bongo’s closest circle – and his cousin at that. The supremacy of the family does not seem to have ended there, as the strongest opposition candidate in the elections, Albert Ondo Ossa, emphasized.
“We have to see things in context,” he said. “This isn’t a coup d’état, it’s a palace revolution. The Bongos have decided to replace Ali Bongo. Oligui Nguema is to take over. And with him the Bongo system goes on.”
Ondo Ossa demands that the ballot papers from the weekend be recounted and the result recognized. But the putschists want to officially appoint their husband as the new president on Monday. On state television, they demonstrated suitcases full of money said to come from Ali Bongo’s son’s environment. The message behind it: The plundering of Gabon will end now. So far, however, the population can only hope that they will actually benefit from the wealth – and that others will not afford a life of luxury in the future.