The coup d’etat in Gabon

A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on television channel Gabon 24 in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.

They said they were annulling the results of Saturday’s election.

Twelve soldiers appeared on television announcing they were cancelling the results of the election and dissolving “all the institutions of the republic”. One of the soldiers said: “We have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime.”

This, he added, was down to “irresponsible, unpredictable governance resulting in a continuing deterioration in social cohesion that risks leading the country into chaos”.

Witnesses have heard heavy automatic weapons fire in Libreville, Gabon’s capital.