Gabon’s military junta leader, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema has been 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, 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.
