Gabon’s Gen. Oligui Nguema sworn in as ‘transitional’ head of State
Less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the Central African nation for more than half a century, Gabon’s new military leader was sworn in as chief of state on Monday, September 4th.
Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace in Libreville, Gabon’s capital, in front of a crowded, boisterous chamber filled with government officials, military, and local leaders. Oligui is the leader of the republican guard, an elite military unit, and is the cousin of deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba, for whom he served as a bodyguard.
Oligui stated on Monday, amidst applause and standing ovations, that the military had usurped power without violence and promised to return it to the people by organizing free, transparent, and credible elections.
“With the new government, made up of experienced people, we’re going to give everyone a chance to hope,” he said.
The mutinous soldiers who overthrew Bongo last week stated that he risked plunging the country into anarchy, and they then “unanimously” chose Oligui as the transitional committee’s president. Bongo, who had served as president for fourteen years, was ousted hours after being proclaimed the winner of an election that was widely viewed as being riddled with irregularities and lacking in transparency.
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Maja Bovcon, a senior analyst at the risk assessment firm Verisk Maplecroft, believes that Oligui’s swift inauguration will generate perceptions of legitimacy and consolidate his power, thereby discouraging potential adversaries from challenging his rule.
“It is also likely intended as a means to restore investor confidence by conveying the message that he will not waste time in returning to business-as-usual and democratic rules,” she said. However, the fact that he plans to rewrite the constitution and electoral code means that the transition period will likely take months if not years.
Since Bongo came to power in 2009 following the death of his father, who had governed the country for 41 years, there had been widespread discontent with his family’s rule. In 2019, another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup but were swiftly defeated.
According to Sherpa, a French accountability organization, nine members of the Bongo family are under investigation in France, with some facing preliminary allegations of embezzlement, money laundering, and other forms of corruption. The group claims that investigators have linked the family to over $92 million worth of properties in France, including two villas in Nice.
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The notion of a lengthy transition did not appear to bother Gabonese who attended Thursday’s inauguration.
“We are turning the page of 55 years of an oligarchy. For Gabon it is a new start, the end of a one political party governance without real benefits for the Gabonese people,” said Desire Ename publisher for a local media outlet. It would be acceptable for the junta to transition within three years, he said.
Albert Ondo Ossa, the opposition candidate in Gabon, declined to comment on the inauguration, but he told The Associated Press last week that the government needed to return to constitutional rule and that he did not consider the president’s removal to be a coup, but rather a “palace revolution” to continue the Bongo family’s reign.
The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, and according to the World Bank, nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in 2020. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, its hydrocarbon export revenues were $6 billion in 2022.
Gabon’s Gen. Oligui Nguema sworn in as ‘transitional’ head of State