What is happening in Gabon and who is Ali Bongo?

Published

2 years ago

August 30, 2023

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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.

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.

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

Pressure mounts on PM to raise Israel’s Gaza offensive with Trump

Published

7 hours ago

September 17, 2025

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Pressure mounts on PM to raise Israel's Gaza offensive with Trump

Sir Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to raise Israel’s bombardment of Gaza with Donald Trump during his UK state visit, after a UN Commission said a genocide was taking place.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey used the president’s arrival on Tuesday night to call for action on the escalating situation, as Israeli forces advance in Gaza City.

Sky News analysis has found thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps, despite a ground offensive beginning yesterday.

Sir Ed, who is boycotting the state dinner being held for Mr Trump, said Sir Keir must “press” the president now.

He said: “What is happening in Gaza is a genocide. And the president of the United States, who wants a Nobel Peace Prize, is doing nothing to stop it.”

On Tuesday, a United Nations Commission agreed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza – the first time such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body.

Israel‘s foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.

‘We cannot be bystanders’

Reports suggest the situation will be a talking point between Sir Keir and Mr Trump during his visit.

It comes before the UK is due to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, along with allies including Canada and France.

In a late night statement, Canada’s foreign ministry described the Gaza City offensive as “horrific”.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed added: “We have long said that Hamas is genocidal and condemned them for their actions.

“Now, I think we have to say that what the Netanyahu government is doing amounts to genocide.”

Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, a former shadow minister, also called on her party leader to make discussing the situation in Gaza with Mr Trump a “top priority”.

Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge, she said: “We say ‘never again’ when we look at Bosnia and Rwanda, but here we are again, and it’s been livestreamed, and we’ve all seen it.

“We cannot be bystanders to a genocide.”

UN report pulls no punches

The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

It alleges Israel has been “killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births”.

Read more from Sky News:
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Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars also passed a resolution stating that Israel’s conduct passed the threshold of committing genocide.

However, a report from the British government said it had “not concluded” that Israel intended to “destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.

Nearly 65,000 people are now believed to have died, according to figures collated by Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

World

Thousands of families remain in Gaza City as Israeli army advances

Published

14 hours ago

September 16, 2025

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Thousands of families remain in Gaza City as Israeli army advances

As the Israeli army advances on Gaza City, thousands of families remain in the city’s crowded tent camps.

Sky News analysis of satellite imagery taken on Monday 15 September shows tent camps stretching across the western half of the city.

A close-up view shows one camp spilling out on to the city’s beaches.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launched its ground assault overnight on Tuesday 16 September, in what the military said was a “new phase” in its offensive.

“Gaza is burning,” defence minister Israel Katz posted on X as the operation began. “IDF soldiers are fighting bravely to create the conditions for the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.”

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper described the offensive as “utterly reckless and appalling”, adding that it “will only bring more bloodshed, kill more innocent civilians & endanger the remaining hostages”.

Footage verified by Sky News shows Israeli tanks entering the Gaza Strip from the north overnight on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers later filmed themselves in an area just north of Gaza City.

Satellite imagery taken a day earlier shows that while some tent camps in the area have been abandoned in the past few days, many others have not.

The IDF advance comes after an intense week of airstrikes targeting buildings in Gaza City. Sky News has verified dozens of videos showing strikes on buildings across the city.

Several of these strikes destroyed entire tower blocks, such as this strike on Al Ghafari Tower.

At least 50 people were killed across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, health officials said, most of them in Gaza City.

The IDF said it estimated 40% of people in Gaza City had fled south, while Hamas said that only 190,000 out of 1.3 million residents had left (15%).

An evacuation order for the entire city was first issued on 9 September, with a map on 13 September instructing Palestinians to flee to what Israel has designated a “humanitarian area” along a stretch of sandy coastline known as Al Mawasi.

Satellite imagery from Sunday 14 September shows that the area is already crowded with tents.

Last week, the UN’s Gaza humanitarian country team said that “neither the size nor scale of services provided is fit to support those already there, let alone new arrivals”.

Those fleeing south face a journey of at least 15km (9.3 miles), much of it through Israeli-designated combat zones. Local health officials said at least one vehicle travelling south from Gaza City had been hit by an Israeli strike.

Among those staying put on Tuesday was Um Mohammad, who lives in the Sabra neighbourhood of Gaza City.

“It is like escaping from death towards death, so we are not leaving,” she said.

The IDF says the next stage of the operation will involve both air and ground forces, and that the number of soldiers involved will increase over the coming days.

Additional reporting by Sam Doak, OSINT producer.

The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

World

UN Commission says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Published

1 day ago

September 16, 2025

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UN Commission says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, according to a commission established by the United Nations.

The report claims “it is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza” and says Israel’s actions meet the criteria set down for defining a genocide.

It is the first time that such an explosive allegation has been made publicly by a UN body, and is likely to be greeted with fury by the Israeli government.

Follow live updates: ‘Gaza is burning’ after overnight strikes

Israel‘s Foreign Ministry said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the commission to be abolished.

“Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious for their openly antisemitic positions – and whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide – released today another fake ‘report’ about Gaza,” it said in a statement.

“The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods, laundered and repeated by others. These fabrications have already been thoroughly debunked.”

The accusation of genocide is made by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The commission, which has been studying the conduct of Israel since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023, has concluded that Israel has committed four of the five acts laid out in the Genocide Convention.

It alleges Israel has been killing Palestinians or forcing them to live in inhumane conditions that led to death; causing serious bodily or mental harm, including through torture, displacement and sexual crime; deliberately imposing inhumane conditions, and fourthly, imposing measures intending to prevent births.

This final claim is linked to an attack on the Al-Basma IVF clinic, which the commission claims destroyed around 4,000 embryos and a further 1,000 sperm samples.

The report claims Israel has “flagrantly” ignored “numerous warnings” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and has set out to “destroy the healthcare system in Gaza”.

It also alleges that Israeli military personnel have carried out sexual and gender-based violence, including “rape and sexualised torture”, as part of “a pattern of collective punishment”, and accuses Israeli forces of deliberately targeting some children “with the intention to kill them”.

Although other UN bodies and personnel have previously linked Israel’s actions with allegations of genocide, this is the first time that any UN body has claimed to have made a definitive judgment.

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with the Israeli authorities at the highest echelons,” said Navi Pillay, the chair of the commission.

Within the report, it concludes that “Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide”.

Nearly 65,000 people are now believed to have died, according to figures collated by Gaza’s health ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

The commission claims that a majority of these are women, children and elderly people.

The commission says it is now looking at further evidence against other individuals accused of inciting genocide.

Last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Gallant for allegedly committing the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare and also for war crimes during the Gaza conflict.

Mr Netanyahu described the warrants as “antisemitic”, while a sense of outrage echoed across much of the political spectrum in Israel.

Then US President Joe Biden called the warrants “outrageous”; his successor, Donald Trump, issued an executive order to introduce sanctions against personnel from the ICC, while inviting Netanyahu to the White House.

It is hard to believe that either Israel or the US will be any more accepting of this report. Israel has long claimed that the UN is biased against it and is more liable to criticise Israel than any other nation.

The US, which offered a rare, if mild, rebuke to Mr Netanyahu after he launched an attack on Hamas officials in Qatar last week, has since sent Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Jerusalem as a sign of solidarity.

The commission has asked for nations to stop supplying Israel with weapons and says states have a “legal obligation” to do everything within their power “to stop the genocide in Gaza”.

It also calls on Israel to immediately allow “unhindered” access for internationally recognised aid agencies, including the UN.

It wants the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), set up earlier this year by Israel with American help, in order to distribute aid, to be shut down.

Hundreds of people have been killed around GHF sites, while a separate UN-backed body has said that parts of Gaza have been designated as suffering from famine.

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Israel denies this – a senior military leader told me that “it is a pure, total lie – there is enough food for everyone”. It claims that the UN relied on faulty data and Hamas propaganda.

This latest UN report is likely to be met with similar claims.

Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution stating that Israel’s conduct passed the threshold of committing genocide.

However, a report from the British government said it had “not concluded” that Israel intended to “destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group”.