Soldiers seized power in OPEC member Gabon, the BBC reported, four days after the central African nation held presidential elections.
Army officers appeared on state television to announce that they’d canceled the Aug. 26 vote and dissolved the country’s institutions, Agence France-Presse said. President Ali Bongo had sought to extend his family’s 56-year hold on power in the election.
If confirmed, the military takeover would be the seventh in western Africa in the past three years, and follows a coup in Niger last month. Gabon is one of OPEC’s smaller members, pumping about 200,000 barrels a day.
Read More: Gabon Shuts Off Internet, Imposes Curfew as Bongo Seeks New Term
Bongo was first elected president in 2009, four months after the death of his father, Omar Bongo, who had held power since 1967. He secured a second seven-year term in 2016 in the closest election in the nation’s history, and violence and looting ensued after his victory was announced.
Fears have been mounting of a repetition of the unrest, with the US Embassy in Libreville, the capital, warning of the “possibility of protests throughout Gabon in the lead up to and aftermath” of the vote.
Bongo’s bid for a third term came months after Gabon’s constitution was changed to allow the president to be elected in a single round. The new system also obliged voters to choose their preferred leader and lawmakers from the same party.
Gabon has abundant oil and manganese deposits, but they haven’t translated into better living standards. About one third of its 2.2 million people live below the poverty line, according to the World Bank.
