What Happened In GABON On August 30, 2023? *A COUP D’ETAT Or A PALACE COUP?*

THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN GABON (PART 1)

What Happened In GABON On August 30, 2023? *A COUP D’ETAT Or A PALACE COUP?*

Opposition leader, Prof ALBERT ONDO OSSA, says what happened was a “PALACE REVOLUTION’
“What happened in Gabon was not a coup d’etat. ONE BONGO SIMPLY REPLACED ANOTHER BONGO, People should not be deceived”.

The PRESUMED WINNER of the August 26 presidential election, cries out that the BONGO CLAN that came to power in 1967, is still the one in power, over half a century later

GABONESE OPPOSITION had insisted that power be handed over to the REAL WINNER of the August 26 presidential Election, Prof ALBERT ONDO OSSA.

On Sunday, August 27, 2023, the coalition of six opposition parties known as ‘Alternative – 2023’, that had Gabon’s opposition strongman and Panafricanist, Prof Albert Ondo Ossa, as candidate for the August 26, 2023 presidential election, declared that based on genuine results of the election in their possession, their candidate had won the presidential election. They thus declared Ondo Ossa as the President – elect of Gabon.
A few days later followed the official proclamation of the result of the August 26 presidential election in Gabon. It was proclaimed in the wee hour of Wednesday, August 30, 2023. It was proclaimed at a very odd time, when many people in Gabon should have been sleeping. The controversial official result had Ali Bongo Ondimba as winner of the presidential election with 64. 27 %, while his main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, the candidate of the opposition coalition, ‘Alternative – 2023’, had 30. 67 %. This meant that the other 12 candidates in the August 26 presidential election scored a total of 5%.
The proclamation of the highly controversial result of the August 26 presidential election, in the early hours of Wednesday, August 30, was probably a strategy by the Ali Bongo regime that the result should be announced at a time that the population was still asleep, and thus could not instantly react as happened in 2016. It would be recalled that Violence erupted instantly, after the proclamation of the controversial result of the 2016 presidential election, when the Gabonese Elections Council fraudulently gave victory to the incumbent candidate, President Ali Bongo.
Meanwhile after the proclamation of the controversial result of the August 26, 2023 presidential election in the early hours of Wednesday, August 30, political observers were waiting to see how the population, especially the opposition coalition which had declared that Albert Ondo Ossa had won the election, would react at day break.

Military Takes Over Power In Gabon “To Defend Peace”

But then things happened in quick succession that early morning of Wednesday, August 30, 223. After the proclamation of the official result of the August 26 presidential election, day break in Gabon instead came with a different breaking news, that there was a coup d’etat underway, and that President Ali Bongo had been overthrown. A group of military officers appeared on State television, and announced the military takeover of power. They announced that the ‘COMITE POUR LA TRANSITION ET DE LA RESTAURATION DES INSTITUTIONS’, CTRI, that is, the COMMITTEE FOR TRANSITION AND RESTORATION OF INISTITUTIONS, CTRI, was now in charge.
In a communiqué read over State Tv, the CTRI said Gabon that had always been a peaceful country was growing though “SERIOUS INSTITUTIONAL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC and SOCIAL CRISIS”. A situation the CTRI said had been further aggravated by the poor organization of the August 26 elections. Thy asserted that the organization of the elections failed to meet up with the expectation of the Gabonese and the State of Gabon, which was that elections should be transparent, credible and inclusive.
The CTRI said added to this terrible situation in which the country found itself, was bad governance by the Bongo regime. The CTRI said the very disturbing situation in Gabon, risked plunging the country into chaos. Reason why the defense and security forces under the canopy of CRTI, had in the name of the Gabonese people and as guarantor for the protection of institutions, on that August 30 decided “to defend peace by putting an end to the regime in place”.
August 26 Elections Annulled / Institutions Dissolved
The CRTI further announced that, “To this effect, the general elections of 26 August, 2023 as well as the truncated results, have been annulled”. The frontiers of Gabon were declared closed till further notice. The CTRI also announced the dissolutions of all State institutions, notably the Government, the Senate, the National Assembly, the Constitutional Council, the Gabonese Elections Council, as well as the Economic Social and Environment Council.

Population Celebrate The Presumed Downfall Of Bongo Dynasty

In a spontaneous reaction, the Gabonese people massively jammed the streets especially in the nation’s capital, Libreville, to celebrate what was thought to be the fall of the Bongo Dynasty that had taken the country hostage for over 55 years. A Bongo Dynasty that had over the years flagrantly plundered and looted the resources of the oil producing Gabon, that was normally supposed to be a rich African country. Gabon’s resources had been turned into the private property of the Bongo family, allies and friends, leaving the masses in the oil producing country in abject poverty or misery. So, assuming that the Bongo Dynasty had at last crumbled after over half a century in power, the Gabonese people massively came out to celebrate.
But later in the afternoon of that August 30, some Gabonese started wondering what was really happening, when they realized that the President of the CTRI that had taken over power in Gabon, was General Brice Clotaire Oilgui Nguema, the cousin of ousted President, Ali ben Bongo Ondimba. This meant that the Bongo Clan was still in power in Gabon.
Also, General Brice Nguema, who was appointed the Commander of the Republican Guard by his cousin, President Ali Bongo, was known by Gabonese to be multi billionaire, and was one in fact one of the members of the Bongo Clan that people were saying would be arrested for the alleged looting of State resources, when the Bongo Dynasty would crash.

Opposition Supporters Accuse France

Meanwhile by Thursday, August 31, 2023, many Gabonese opposition officials had come to suspect that what the population on Wednesday, August 30 took for a military coup d’etat or the fall of the Bongo Dynasty, appeared more like a game backed by the French, to perpetuate the stay of the Bongo Clan in power, so as to guarantee the protection of huge French interests in Gabon.
Officials, militants and sympathizers of the six parties that constitute the opposition coalition, ‘Alternative -2023’ whose candidate for the August 26 presidential election was the presumed winner of the election, Albert Ondo Ossa, started accusing France of being behind the coup that overthrew Ali Bongo. Not that they supported or sympathized with the ousted President, Ali Bongo. Rather the opposition said France supported a Palace Coup that would maintain the Bongo Clan in power in Gabon.
The opposition alleged that France scandalously infiltrated the Bongo Clan which has been split by a bitter conflict, and secretly gave its support to one of the camps against the Camp of President Ali Bongo, who had fallen out of favour with the French Government.

France Allegedly Scared Of A Panafricanist Becoming President

The Gabon’s opposition officials, militants and sympathizers, said that France was very uncomfortable with the ‘Panafricanist’ declarations that were repeatedly made by Prof Albert Ondo Ossa, well known for his Panafricanist position, and other leaders of the opposition coalition, during the presidential election campaign. The opposition claimed that upon seeing that the Panafricanist, Prof Ondo Ossa, had won the August 26 presidential election, the French Government secretly orchestrated a palace coup in a bid to block him from taking over.
It should be noted that this accusation against France by many Gabonese, was partly due to the very soft way in which the French Government reacted to news of the coup d’etat in Gabon. The French Government simply said on August 30 that it was observing with concern the situation in Gabon. There was no outright condemnation of the coup d’etat. This was a sharp contrast to the French Government’s very strong opposition to the coup d’etat that recently took place in another former French colony, Niger Republic.

Reaction Of French Media

Also, the general reaction of the French media to the August 30 coup d’eatat in Gabon, as compared to their reaction to the coup d’etat that took place in Niger Republic recently, clearly showed how the treatment of a coup d’etat in any country by the French media and the French Government, is influence by French interest. As for the case of Niger, the French media like the French Government have been strong and relentless in their persistent condemnation of the coup d’etat.
But when it comes to the coup d’etat in Gabon, the French media in general have not been criticizing the coup d’etat. Instead their focus have been on how ousted President Ali Bongo, and his late father, President Omar Bongo, now of blessed memory, looted the resources of Gabon, and that part of the huge sums of money used spent to acquire several properties like buildings in France. The pictures of some of the houses are being shown. This is clearly also a strategy to give justification for the coup d’etat in Gabon.
This information of the acquisition or several properties in France by the French media, is certainly information that the French media have had long ago, but were silent since Omar Bongo and his son, Ali Bongo, were then in the good books of France for serving French interest.
Ondo Ossa Calls On Gabonese Military To Recognize His Victory
Meanwhile in the evening of Thursday, August 31, 2023, the presumed real winner of the August 26, 2023 Presidential Election in Gabon, Prof Albert Ondo Ossa, spoke publicly for the first time since overthrow of President Ali Bongo in the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 30.
In an interview granted TV 5 Monde, Prof Ondo Ossa, insisted that he was the real winner of the August 26 presidential election, and that even the Gabonese defence and security forces, including members of the military junta (CRTI ), knew the genuine results of the presidential election, and knew that he was the real winner of the election.
Reacting to the overthrow of President Ali Bongo, Ondo Ossa said as a democrat , he does not support coup d’etats or military takeover of power. He thus made it clear that he will not support the military junta in Gabon, and called on them to return the country to Republican Order, by their recognition of the real winner of the August 6 presidential election. “Everybody knows the authentic result of the presidential election, and thus knows the real winner. The real winner of the election should be recognized. I am the real winner of the election. I am the legitimate President of Gabon”, Ondo Ossa declared.

Palace Coup, Not Military Coup

When reminded that thousands of people in Gabon jammed the streets in the morning of Wednesday, August 30, 2023 to celebrate the coup ‘d’etat carried out by the military, Albert Ondo Ossa said the Gabonese people came out to celebrate what they thought was the departure or the fall of the Bongo Dynasty in Gabon. But he said in reality that was not the case, for what happened was that, “A BONGO, HAS REPLACED ANOTHER BONGO”.
The opposition leader strongly argued that what happened in Gabon was not a coup d’etat carried out by the military as the media had been reporting. ‘C’EST UNE REVOLUTION DE PALAIS’,meaning “IT IS A PALACE REVOLUTION). Ondo Ossa insisted that President Bongo was not overthrown by a military coup, but rather by some family members. He pointed out that General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who led the operation to overthrow President Ali Bongo, is Ali Bongo’s cousin, and they worked together for a longtime.
“WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN GABON IN THE MORNNG OF AUGUST 30 WAS NOT A COUP D’ETAT. BRICE NGUEMA IS THE COUSIN OF ALI BONGO. SO NOTHING IN REALITY HAS CHANGED. ONE BONGO, HAS SIMPLY REPLACED ANOTHER BONGO AT THE PRESIDENCY. PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE DECERIVED, THE BONGO CLAN THAT HAS BEEN IN POWER IN GABON FOR OVER 50 YEARS, IS STILL THE ONE IN POWER. SO GABONESE SHOULD NOT BE DECEIVED THAT THE BONGOs ARE OUT”, Prof Albert ONDO OSA asserted.