The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has taken swift action in response to the recent military coup in Gabon.
In a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, the council expressed its strong condemnation of the coup and announced the immediate suspension of Gabon’s participation in all activities of the AU, as well as its organs and institutions.
This decision was made during a council meeting convened to address the situation in Gabon, which unfolded following disputed elections that resulted in President Ali Bongo Ondimba being declared the winner.
The meeting was chaired by Bankole Adeoye of Nigeria, the African Union commissioner for political affairs, and the current chair of the council, Willy Nyamitwe of Burundi.
The military coup in Gabon marked the conclusion of the Bongo family’s nearly six-decade-long rule and posed a fresh challenge for a region that has grappled with a total of eight coups since 2020.
Nigeria’s recently elected president Bola Tinubu called it a “contagion of autocracy”.
“My fear has been confirmed in Gabon that copy cats will start doing the same thing until it is stopped,” Tinubu, who chairs West Africa’s main regional body ECOWAS, said on Thursday.
The military general who led the overthrow of Gabon’s Bongo dynasty is set to be inaugurated as the transitional president on Monday, according to an announcement by the army. Meanwhile, the opposition is demanding that their candidate be officially recognized as the victor of the recent weekend elections.
The military sought to reassure donors they would “respect all commitments” at home and abroad and “phase in” transitional institutions, Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, spokesman for the new regime, said on state television.
The swearing-in ceremony for the new leader, General Brice Oligui Nguema, is scheduled to take place at the constitutional court, as disclosed by a spokesman. This marks the initial indication of how the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) intends to operate following the coup that occurred on Wednesday.
The ECCAS (Economic Community of Central African States) has strongly condemned the coup and expressed its intention to convene a meeting of heads of state in the near future to determine the appropriate response. However, the statement did not specify a date for this meeting.
The coup was initiated by senior officers in Gabon shortly after the election body declared that President Bongo had secured a third term following Saturday’s vote.
Subsequently, a video surfaced of President Bongo detained in his residence, appealing to international allies for assistance while seemingly unaware of the unfolding events. The officers also announced General Nguema, the former head of the presidential guard, as the new head of state.
On Wednesday, Tinubu announced that he was collaborating closely with other African leaders to address what he referred to as the “spread of autocracy” across Africa.
In response to the coup in Niger on July 26, ECOWAS had threatened military intervention and imposed sanctions. However, the military government has not yielded to these measures. Similarly, military leaders in other African nations, such as Mali, have resisted international pressure, managing to maintain their grip on power and, in some cases, even garnering popular support.
The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), representing Central Africa’s political bloc, issued a statement condemning the coup. ECCAS announced plans for an “imminent” meeting of heads of state to determine an appropriate response, although no specific date was provided.
According to Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, the response from the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) has been relatively subdued. This may be attributed in part to concerns in the region about the potential for a “contagion of coups” among countries with political systems similar to the Bongo dynasty.