Military officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema seized powers on Wednesday, placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as Head of State, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.
The military officers had cited institutional, political, economic, and social crises as reasons for the coup.
The soldiers, who identified themselves as members of the Committee of Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), said they were dissolving “all the institutions of the republic.”
After announcing that they had seized power, the soldiers also announced the closure of the country’s borders.
The coup – the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years – has raised concerns about a contagion of military takeovers across the region that have erased democratic progress made in the last two decades.
Coup leaders have come under international pressure to restore civilian government but said last night that they would not rush to hold elections.
Bongo was elected in 2009, taking over from his late father Omar, who came to power in 1967. Opponents say the family did little to share Gabon’s oil and mining wealth.
