Rebel officers in the oil-rich central African state of Gabon announced yesterday that they had seized power following disputed elections in which President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in power since 2009, had been declared victor.
Bongo, 64, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 55 years, was placed under house arrest and one of his sons was arrested for treason, the coup leaders said.
A worried-looking Bongo, in a video from an unidentified location, appealed to “all friends that we have all over the world … to make noise”. In a dramatic pre-dawn address, a group of officers declared “all the institutions of the republic” had been dissolved, the election results cancelled and the borders closed.
“Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis,” according…