What is happening in Gabon and who is Ali Bongo?
Military leaders in Gabon have announced a coup after president Ali Bongo was declared victorious in the country’s presidential election.
The result, which would give him a third term in office and extend his family’s 55-year grip of power on the country, has been highly disputed.
But who is Mr Bongo, who is behind the coup and what is happening in the Central African nation?
Here’s what you need to know.
Who is Ali Bongo?
Ali Bongo’s family has held power in Gabon for 55 years.
His father Omar Bongo was the country’s president from 1967 until his death in 2009.
Ali Bongo, 64, has ruled since then – but his takeover was not welcomed by many Gabonese who believed his success was down to family connections.
“A spoilt child, born in Congo-Brazzaville, brought up in France, hardly able to speak indigenous languages and with the appearance of a hip-hop star”, was how Burkina Faso newspaper L’Observateur Paalga described him.
Mr Bongo went to school in France and then studied law at the Sorbonne in Paris. He entered politics after graduating, joining the Gabonese Democratic Party in 1981.
During his father’s presidency, Mr Bongo was minister of foreign affairs and minister of defence, and represented the town of Bongoville in the country’s National Assembly.
The town, originally called Lewai, was renamed after Omar Bongo, who was born there and massively expanded it during his presidency.
Mr Bongo was born Alain Bernard Bongo but changed his name to Ali in 1973, when he and his father converted to Islam.
In 1977 he released a funk album titled A Brand New Man, produced by James Brown’s former manager, Charles Bobbit.
Mr Bongo had a stroke in 2018 and spent months out of the country recovering.
Why has there been a coup attempt?
Mutinous soldiers declared they were seizing power hours after it was announced Mr Bongo had won 64% of the presidential vote, giving him a third term in office.
Opposition groups argued the result was fraudulent.
In the election, Mr Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by economics professor and former education minister Albert Ondo Ossa, whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.
Gabonese military appear on television as they announce they have seized power
Who announced the coup?
A group of nearly a dozen senior military figures made the announcement on the national TV channel Gabon 24.
They introduced themselves as members of The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions and said they represented all security and defence forces in Gabon.
The group’s members were drawn from the gendarme police force, the republican guard and other elements of the security forces.
What’s happened in Gabon since the attempted coup?
The military leaders said election results were cancelled, all borders were closed until further notice, and state institutions dissolved.
Sounds of gunfire were reported in the Gabonese capital Libreville on Wednesday morning, but there did not appear to be significant signs of unrest.
Crowds in the capital took to the city’s streets to celebrate the end of Mr Bongo’s reign, singing the national anthem with soldiers.
A military vehicle passes people celebrating in Port-Gentil after soldiers announced a coup. Pic: Gaetan M-Antchouwet/Reuters
Where is Mr Bongo now?
Mr Bongo has been placed under house arrest following the coup.
What’s the history of elections and violence in Gabon?
Every vote held in Gabon since the country’s return to a multi-party system in 1990 has ended in violence.
Clashes between government forces and protesters following the 2016 election killed four people, according to official figures, but opposition groups said the true number killed was higher.
Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in January 2019, while Mr Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke. That uprising was foiled when two of the suspected coup plotters were killed and others arrested.
What about other coups in Africa?
The coup attempt came about one month after soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government.
It is the latest in a series of coups that have challenged governments with ties to France, the region’s former coloniser.
Gabon’s coup, if successful would bring the number of coups in West and Central Africa to eight since 2020.
Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon has not been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.
In his annual Independence Day speech on 17 August, Mr Bongo said: “While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilisation. Never.”
Will the coup affect Europe?
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said if a coup was confirmed it would heap more instability on Europe.
Speaking at a meeting of EU defence ministers, he said they would discuss the situation in Gabon.
“The whole area, starting with Central African Republic, then Mali, then Burkina Faso, now Niger, maybe Gabon, it’s in a
very difficult situation and certainly the ministers … have to have a deep thought on what is going on there and how we can improve our policy in respect to these countries,” he said.
“This is a big issue for Europe,” he added.
France is following the situation in Gabon very closely, said prime minister Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday, as she addressed a meeting of ambassadors in Paris.
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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