Africa
BREAKING: Gabon military officers claim to have seized power after election
BREAKING: Gabon military officers claim to have seized power after election
A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.
Appearing on television channel Gabon 24, the officers said they represented all security and defense forces in the Central African nation. They said the election results were canceled, all borders closed until further notice and state institutions dissolved.
Loud sounds of gunfire could be heard in the capital Libreville, a Reuters reporter said, after the television appearance.
“In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime,” the officers said.
If successful, the coup would represent the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. Coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger have undermined democratic progress in recent years.
Last month, the military snatched power in Niger, sending shockwaves across the Sahel and sucking in global powers with strategic interests at stake.
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The announcement came just hours after the Gabonese Election Centre (CGE) said on Wednesday that Bongo had won in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote, after a delay-plagued general election that the opposition has denounced as fraudulent.
Announcing the result in the early hours, CGE head Michel Stephane Bonda said Bongo’s main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, had come in second place with 30.77%. Bongo’s team have rejected Ondo Ossa’s allegations of electoral irregularities.
Tensions are running high amid fears of unrest after Saturday’s presidential, parliamentary, and legislative vote, which saw Bongo seeking to extend his family’s 56-year grip on power while the opposition pushed for change in the oil-rich but poverty-stricken Central African nation.
A lack of international observers, the suspension of some foreign broadcasts, and the authorities’ decision to cut internet service and impose a nighttime curfew nationwide after the poll has raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.
Bongo, 64, who succeeded his father Omar as president in 2009, had contested against 18 challengers, six of whom backed a joint nominee, former minister and university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, in an effort to narrow the race.
In 2016, the parliament building was torched when violent street protests erupted against Bongo’s contested re-election for his second term. The government shut down internet access for several days at the time.
BREAKING: Gabon military officers claim to have seized power after election
CNN
Africa
Army foils coup to topple DR Congo president
Army foils coup to topple DR Congo president
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) army says it has repelled an attempted coup d’etat.
Sylvain Ekenge, the DRC army spokesperson, spoke in a televised address on the state-run RTNC TV.
“An attempted coup d’etat has been put down by the defence and security forces. The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader,” Ekenge said.
Ekenge said several suspects have been detained and the “situation is now under control”.
The army spokesperson did not give further information about the incident.
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His statement comes hours after armed men attacked the house of Vital Kamerhe, former chief of staff and close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi.
Kamerhe’s residence is about two kilometres from the presidential palace.
Michel Muhima, Kamerhe’s spokesperson, had said the gunmen clad in military uniform engaged the politician’s guards in a shootout, leaving three people dead.
Muhima said two of the deceased were police officers attached to Kamerhe while the other was one of the attackers.
The unrest in the country comes amid a dispute in the ruling party over the postponement of an election for the leadership of the country’s national assembly.
President Tshisekedi met with parliamentarians and party leaders on Friday in a bid to resolve the crisis.
Tshisekedi was reelected as president in December 2023.
Army foils coup to topple DR Congo president
Africa
Chad’s military ruler Derby declared winner of presidential election, opposition kicks
Chad’s military ruler Derby declared winner of presidential election, opposition kicks
Chad’s military leader, Mahamat Deby Itno, was declared the winner of this week’s presidential election, according to provisional results released Thursday. The results were contested by his main rival, Prime Minister Succès Masra.
The national agency that manages Chad’s election released results of Monday’s vote weeks earlier than planned. The figures showed Deby Itno won with just over 61% of the vote, with the runner-up Masra falling far behind with over 18.5% of the vote. Gunfire erupted in the capital following the announcement, though it was unclear if it was celebratory.
Preliminary results were initially expected on May 21.
Chad held its long delayed presidential election following three years of military rule, a vote that analysts widely expected the incumbent to win. Deby Itno, also known as Mahamat Idriss Deby, seized power after his father, who spent three decades in power, was killed fighting rebels in 2021.
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The oil-exporting country of nearly 18 million people hasn’t had a free-and-fair transfer of power since it became independent in 1960 after decades of French colonial rule.
Hours ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Masra published a speech on Facebook accusing the authorities of planning to manipulate the outcome.
During the 11-minute speech, Masra appeared in a blue suit at a podium with the national flag in the background and claimed victory, saying the incumbent was planning to reverse the outcome of the vote. He called on Chad’s military, police and other security forces to stop following Deby Itno’s orders.
“These orders will lead you to side with the wrong side of Chad’s history, these orders will lead you to fight your brothers and sisters, these orders will lead you to commit the irreparable and unforgivable,” he said in the speech. “Refuse to obey these unjust orders!”
There was no immediate response from the president’s office.
Chad’s military ruler Derby declared winner of presidential election, opposition kicks
Africa
Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections
Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections
The hope of having new leader in Togo has been dashed following the abolition of presidential elections in the West Africa country.
The development follows the signing of a controversial and widely condemned new constitution by President Faure Gnassingbe
The new constitution does not allow for election to the highest office in the land, an arrangement that will see the Gnassingbes consolidate their hold on power and extend their six-decade-long rule.
A statement from Gnassingbe’s office on Monday stated that, under the new legislation, only the parliament will have the power to select the president, eliminating direct elections.
According to Africa News, the election commission on Saturday announced that Gnassingbe’s ruling party had won a majority of seats in the nation’s parliament.
The report revealed that there was a crackdown on civic and media freedoms ahead of the vote, as the government banned protests against the proposed new constitution and arrested opposition figures.
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Also, the electoral commission banned the Catholic Church from deploying election observers.
In mid-April, a French journalist who arrived to cover the elections was arrested, assaulted and expelled. Togo’s media regulator later suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists.
Provisional results showed the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party won 108 out of 113 seats in parliament, and 137 out of 179 positions in the senate.
The new constitution also increases presidential terms from five to six years and introduces a single-term limit.
However, the almost 20 years that Gnassingbe has already served in office would not count toward that tally.
Togo has been ruled by the same family for 57 years, initially by Eyadema Gnassingbe and then by his son, Faure Gnassingbe, who took office after elections that the opposition described as a “sham.”
The political opposition, religious leaders and civil society say the proposed new constitution makes it likely that Gnassingbe will stay on when his mandate expires in 2025.
They also fear that the creation of a figure similar to a prime minister, to be selected from the ruling party, could become another avenue for Gnassingbe to extend his grip on power even beyond that new term.
Civil societies, Togo president on war path over new constitution eliminating elections
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