The coup d’état in Gabon has further heightened worries about the evident danger to the growth and entrenchment of the democratic principle in Africa. It has also reinforced claims that a re-evaluation of the social conditions under which democratic governments operate has been unfavourable.
While these claims may highlight the genuine demands of many people, the personalities behind some of these military interventions raise questions about the intent of the different actors to bring real change.
In Gabon, the military’s decision to topple the longstanding Bongo dynasty that had been in power for 56 years comes as a surprise. The country has had its festering political challenges, but the general opinion among observers was that the Bongo family had been able to hold on to the reins of power by ensuring it had a firm control of all government structures.
The country has been off the coup radar on the continent, except for an attempt in 2019 when Military officers, led by Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang, announced the removal of President Bongo. The attempt was however quickly put down.
The current coup seems to have been the brainchild of one of the ousted president’s closest allies in the military, and a cousin, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who is the head of the Republican Guards, the elite unit tasked with protecting the Gabonese president.The Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), as the new military junta describes itself, announced that Nguema will lead the organisation.
Observers are a bit cautious to describe this coup as the result of a popular movement, even if many Gabonese have come out to celebrate the removal of the Bongo dynasty and the cancellation of elections that many had described as far below expectations.
Nguema does not cut the image of a revolutionary officer who intends to initiate any real reforms that would change the current social dynamics in the country, if the reports about him are anything to go by. According to a 2020 Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) investigation, he owns several properties in the United States worth over $1 million. For example, a report revealed that he acquired a property in Silver Spring, Maryland, for $447,000 in cash in 2018.
The New Tribune (a French Media Outlet) noted that Nguema is famous for his status as a multibillionaire, his involvement in embezzlement and his links to the drug circles of South American-Ivorian cartels. How true these reports are have not been independently verified.
Rise to power.
When Ali Bongo came to power, Nguema was military attaché at the Gabonese embassy in Morocco and then in Senegal. In October 2018, he was recalled to Gabon where he took over as head of the intelligence service of the Republican Guard: the General Directorate of Special Services (DGSS). Six months later, in April 2019, he took over as head of the Republican Guard where he replaced General Grégoire Kouna.
Nguema has managed to win the unwavering support of his troops through several initiatives he carried out. He was responsible for increasing the elite unit’s workforce from thirty to more than three hundred members, including nearly one hundred snipers. He has considerably strengthened the unit. He is reported to have also provided the unit with state-of-the-art equipment.
As the repercussions of the coup become more obvious, the real implications for the people of Gabon will be better judged against the backdrop of the growing geopolitical dynamics on the continent that have become a major point of reference for many.
