Reports emanating from Congo-Brazzaville indicate a Military takeover of government.
But government in the Central African country has denied the reports of a coup attempt against President Denis Nguesso, who has been in power for 39 years.
The unconfirmed coup reports circulating on social media suggest that the military was trying to oust the 79-year-old leader, who is currently in New York for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the reports, the military seized control of key installations in the capital, Brazzaville.
Initial information indicated that the architect of the coup was a commander of the presidential guard.
Denying the coup reports
Congo Brazzaville’s Information Minister, Thierry Moungalla took to X (former Twitter) on Sunday to debunk the reports.
“The government denies this fake news. We reassure public opinion about the calm that reigns and invite people to go about their activities calmly,” he posted.
Mr. Moungalla’s statement corroborated the government’s statement published on its website denying the coup attempt reports.
President Denis Nguesso, 79, a former military officer rose to power in the oil-producing central African country in a military coup in 1979.
He lost Congo’s first multi-party elections in 1992 but regained power in 1997 after a civil war.
During his first period as president, he headed the Congolese Party of Labour for 12 years.
President Denis Sassou N’Guesso was re-elected for a five-year term in 2016 after a referendum on a new Constitution allowed him to reset his term limits.
His party, the Parti Congolais du Travail (PCT), dominates the Parliament.
The Congolese leader is the third-longest serving president in Africa, after Equatoguinean Teodoro Obiang and Cameroonian Paul Biya.
In recent months, there has been a wave of coups across Africa the most recent one in the neighbouring Gabon, where the military seized power in January.
Gabon coup
Gabon’s military junta leader, General Brice Clotaire Oligui was sworn in as head of state less than a week after ousting President Ali Bongo Ondimba.
The ousted president’s family has ruled the Central African country for more than five decades.
General Oligui Nguema took oath of office in the presidential palace in front of a packed, boisterous room of government officials, and military and local leaders in Gabon’s capital, Libreville.
Oligui is a cousin of President Ali Bongo, served as a bodyguard to his late father, and is head of the republican guard, an elite military unit.
Speaking to applause and standing ovations Monday, Oligui said the military had seized power without bloodshed and promised to return power to the people by organizing free, transparent, and credible elections.
“With the new government, made up of experienced people, we’re going to give everyone a chance to hope,” he said.
The mutinous soldiers who toppled Bongo last week said he risked leading the country into chaos and they then “unanimously” designated Oligui president of the transitional committee.
Bongo, who had been president for 14 years, was ousted hours after being declared the winner of a vote that was widely seen as rife with irregularities and lacking transparency.
Bongo had served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there was widespread discontent with his family’s reign. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.
Nine members of the Bongo family, meanwhile, are under investigation in France, and some face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering, and other forms of corruption, according to Sherpa, a French NGO dedicated to accountability. Investigators have linked the family to more than $92 million in properties in France, including two villas in Nice, the group says.
Gabon’s opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, would not comment on the inauguration but told The Associated Press last week that the government needed to return to constitutional rule and he did not consider the president’s ousting to be a coup but rather a “palace revolution” in order to continue the Bongo’s family’s reign.
The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few — and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Niger Coup
Niger’s military coup leaders announced the appointment of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as prime minister on Monday evening in a statement read out on national television, at a time when the international community is seeking to restore constitutional order.
“Mr (Ali Mahaman) Lamine Zeine has been appointed Prime Minister”, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane reported.
As soon as he came to power, former president Mamadou Tandja appointed Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine cabinet director in 2001, then finance minister in 2002, to turn around a chaotic economic and financial situation.
This was a situation inherited from the military who came to power after the assassination in 1999 of General and President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, in a country whose history is punctuated by seizures of power by force.
Mr. Zeine was Finance Minister until Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in a coup d’état in 2010 by Major Salou Djibo, before a presidential election won by Mahamadou Issoufou, predecessor of Mohamed Bazoum, who was deposed on 26 July.
Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, an economist by training, was also resident representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon.
Born in 1965 in Zinder (south), the country’s second most populous town, he joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance in 1991 after studying at the Ecole Nationale d’administration (ENA) in Niamey. He is also a graduate of the Centre d’études financières, économiques et bancaires in Marseille and Paris-I.
“Lieutenant-Colonel Habibou Assoumane” has also been “appointed Commander of the Presidential Guard”, added Mr. Abdramane.
These appointments come a day after the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave the ruling military an ultimatum to restore President Mohamed Bazoum to office. The organization did not rule out the use of force if this demand was not met.
Niger’s Western and African partners are divided on the question of military intervention to return power to civilians, before ECOWAS meets again on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria.
President Bazoum has remained sequestered in his private residence since the day of the coup.
Other African states make military reshuffle
In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame retired hundreds of soldiers, coinciding with the advancement of young soldiers within the nation’s security framework.
New generals have also been appointed to lead army divisions situated across the country.
The Rwanda Defense Force (RDF) released a statement disclosing Kagame’s approval of the retirement of twelve generals, eighty-three senior officers, and six junior officers. Additionally, eighty-six senior non-commissioned officers will be retired.
About 678 soldiers retired as their contracts concluded, with 160 others medically discharged.
Prominent figures from Rwanda’s 1994 liberation war, including Gen. James Kabarebe, Gen. Fred Ibingira, and Lt. Gen. Charles Kayonga, are among the retirees.
Both Kabarebe and Kayonga previously held the position of chief of defense staff of the Rwandan army.
On the same day, Kagame elevated several young officers to the rank of colonel and designated new generals to lead military divisions.
Other retirees encompass Lt. Gen. Frank Mushyo Kamanzi, currently Rwanda’s ambassador to Russia, and Maj. Gen. Albert Murasira, a former defense minister.
In June, Kagame appointed Juvenal Marizamunda as the new defense minister, succeeding Albert Murasira, who had held the role since 2018.
In parallel, Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, enacted fresh appointments within the Defense Ministry’s central administrative unit, as outlined in a decree shared on social media.
The reshuffles come after Gabon’s President Bongo, 64, was put under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors, as military officers declared government takeover.
