According to a military spokesman, Gabon reopened its borders on Saturday, three days after they had been shut following a military coup that resulted in the removal of President Ali Bongo, according to Reuters.
The Bongo family’s 56-year reign of terror came to an end on Wednesday when army officers led by General Brice Nguema seized power, put Bongo under house arrest, and proclaimed Nguema the new head of state.
The military takeover, the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years, has sparked worries about a regional chain reaction that may reverse the gains in democracy gained in the past two decades.
Despite pressure from the international community to reinstate civilian rule, coup leaders declared Friday night that they would not rush to hold elections.
According to the army spokesman on national television, the junta opened the land, sea, and air borders because it was “concerned with preserving respect for the rule of law, good relations with our neighbours, and all states of the world,” and wished to uphold its “international commitments.”
In 2009, Bongo was elected to succeed his late father Omar, who had been in office since 1967. The family, according to critics, did little to share Gabon’s mining and oil wealth.
Following coups in Guinea, Chad, Niger, and two each in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020, the takeover in Gabon worried foreign powers with different strategic interests. I’m
