{"id":2816,"date":"2019-01-09T18:51:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T18:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=2816"},"modified":"2019-01-09T18:51:23","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T18:51:23","slug":"gabon-detains-soldiers-after-failed-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2019\/01\/09\/gabon-detains-soldiers-after-failed-coup\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabon detains soldiers after failed coup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Group of soldiers had called on people to \u2018rise up\u2019 while ailing president is out of countryR<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mon 7 Jan 2019 09.18 ESTFirst published on Mon 7 Jan 2019 02.04 EST<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Gabonese government has put down a coup attempt after a group of soldiers briefly took over state radio and broadcast a statement calling on people to \u201crise up\u201d while the president, Ali Bongo, is in Morocco recovering from a stroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities have regained control of the state broadcasting offices and a major thoroughfare in the capital, Libreville, which were the only areas taken by the plotters, the government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told Radio France International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 4.30am (0530 GMT) on Monday a man identifying himself as Lt Kelly Ondo Obiang read out a message on state radio that was simultaneously filmed for social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obiang was flanked by two armed men, all in the uniform and green berets of the powerful Republican Guard, which is usually tasked with protecting the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe eagerly awaited day has arrived when the army has decided to put itself on the side of the people in order to save Gabon<\/a> from chaos,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you are eating, stop; if you are having a drink, stop; if you are sleeping, wake up. Wake up your neighbours \u2026 rise up as one and take control of the street,\u201d he added, calling on Gabonese to occupy the country\u2019s airports, public buildings and media organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ali<\/a>
 The president of Gabon, Ali Bongo. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A witness told Reuters a crowd of about 300 people had gathered in support of the attempted coup at the state broadcasting headquarters, where the military fired teargas to disperse them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bongo family has ruled Gabon since 1967, except for four months in 2009 after Ali Bongo\u2019s father, Omar<\/a>, died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four of the five plotters were taken into custody on Monday morning, Mapangou told France 24. The fifth was caught in the afternoon, reportedly hiding under a bed in a house. \u201cThe government is in place. The institutions are in place,\u201d Mapangou said. The communications minister said the men were \u201ca group of jokers and the military hierarchy does not recognise them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union, said he strongly condemned the coup attempt. A spokeswoman for the French foreign ministry also criticised the action in its former colony. \u201cGabon\u2019s stability can only be ensured in strict compliance with the provisions of its constitution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bongo became ill in October while on a visit to Saudi Arabia. Rather than going home, he went to recuperate in Morocco, from where he gave a New Year\u2019s Day statement in which he admitted he had been \u201cthrough a difficult period, as sometimes happens in life\u201d. He said he was preparing to return home soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obiang said Bongo\u2019s speech, in which he slurred some words and appeared unable to move his right arm, had \u201creinforced doubts about the president\u2019s ability to continue to carry out the responsibilities of his office\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Omar Bongo squandered much of Gabon\u2019s vast oil wealth and kept close ties with France in a system known as Fran\u00e7afrique<\/a>. Ali Bongo tried to set himself apart from his father but lost any moral high ground at the last presidential vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the beneficiary of an election in 2016 that was widely acknowledged to have been rigged amid violence from the country\u2019s security forces. Ostensibly he won 49.8% of the vote to his rival Jean Ping\u2019s 48.23%. Ping had looked set to win until results from Haut-Ogoou\u00e9, Bongo\u2019s home region, were announced. The electoral commission claimed a 99.98% turnout in Haut-Ogoou\u00e9, compared with 59% everywhere else, and said 95% of those who cast votes there did so for the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition accused the Republican Guard of bombing<\/a> its headquarters<\/a> in the aftermath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, Donald Trump sent 80 troops to Gabon to defend US interests and \u201cfurther foreign policy\u201d in the nearby Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Catholic church has warned of an uprising if the result of an election on 30 December<\/a> is not respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 2019 begins\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 we\u2019re asking readers to make a new year contribution in support of The Guardian\u2019s independent journalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years ago we set out to make The Guardian sustainable by deepening our relationship with our readers. The same technologies that connected us with a global audience had also shifted advertising revenues away from news publishers. We decided to seek an approach that would allow us to keep our journalism open and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live or what they can afford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than one million readers have now supported our independent, investigative journalism through contributions, membership or subscriptions, which has played such an important part in helping The Guardian overcome a perilous financial situation globally. We want to thank you for all of your support. But we have to maintain and build on that support for every year to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustained support from our readers enables us to continue pursuing difficult stories in challenging times of political upheaval, when factual reporting has never been more critical. The Guardian is editorially independent \u2013 our journalism is free from commercial bias and not influenced by billionaire owners, politicians or shareholders. No one edits our editor. No one steers our opinion. This is important because it enables us to give a voice to those less heard, challenge the powerful and hold them to account. Readers\u2019 support means we can continue bringing The Guardian\u2019s independent journalism to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Group of soldiers had called on people to \u2018rise up\u2019 while ailing president is out of countryR Mon 7 Jan 2019 09.18 ESTFirst published on Mon 7 Jan 2019 02.04 EST The Gabonese government has put down a coup attempt after a group of soldiers briefly took over state radio and broadcast a statement calling on people to \u201crise up\u201d while the president, Ali… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2817,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2816\/revisions\/2817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}