Military officers in the oil-rich African country of Gabon announced on television on Wednesday morning that they had taken power, just hours after the electoral commission declared long-serving president Ali Bongo winner of Saturday’s election.
“In the name of the Gabonese people . . . we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the officers clad in military fatigues, who claimed to represent all the security and defence units in the nation of 2.4mn, said on the Gabon 24 TV channel.
The electoral commission earlier on Wednesday said Bongo had clinched a third term with 64.27 per cent of the vote and looked set to extend his family’s 56-year rule. Bongo has been in power since his father Omar died in office in 2009 after ruling for more than four decades.