Gabon coup boss will avoid elections that 'repeat same mistakes'

The leader of Gabon's junta, who ousted President Ali Bongo, has said that he wanted to avoid rushing into elections that "repeat past mistakes", as pressure mounted on the military to hand back power to a civilian government.

General Brice Oligui Nguema said in a televised address on Friday evening that the junta would proceed "quickly but surely" but that it would avoid elections that "repeat the same mistakes" by keeping the same people in power.

"Going as quickly as possible does not mean organising adhoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors," he said.

Central African regional bloc ECCAS has urged partners led by the United Nations and the African Union to support a rapid return to constitutional order, it said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting on Thursday.

It said it would reconvene on Monday.

Gabon's main opposition group, Alternance 2023, which says it is the rightful winner of Saturday's election, urged the international community on Friday to encourage the junta to hand power back to civilians.

"We were happy that Ali Bongo was overthrown, but ... we hope that the international community will stand up in favour of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians," Alexandra Pangha, spokesperson for Alternance 2023 leader Albert Ondo Ossa, told the BBC.

She said the junta's plan to inaugurate Nguema as head of state on Monday was "absurd".

Crackdown on Bongo entourage

Bongo was elected in 2009, taking over from his late father, who came to power in 1967.

Opponents say the family did little to share Gabon's oil and mining wealth.

For years, the Bongo family occupied a luxurious palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

They own expensive cars and properties in France and the United States, often paid for in cash, according to a 2020 investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a global network of investigative journalists.

Meanwhile, almost a third of the country's 2.3 million people live in poverty.

Military leaders ordered the arrest of one of Bongo's sons, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, and several members of Bongo's cabinet early on Wednesday on accusations ranging from alleged embezzlement to narcotics trafficking.

State broadcaster Gabon 24 said on Thursday that duffel bags stuffed with cash wrapped in plastic had been confiscated from the homes of various officials.

Its footage included a raid on the house of former cabinet director Ian Ghislain Ngoulou.

Standing next to Bongo Valentin, he told the channel that the money was part of Bongo's election fund.

It was unclear when the images were shot.

Lawyers for Bongo's wife said on Friday that Bongo Valentin was incarcerated in an undisclosed location, and the family were concerned about his safety.

African coups

The takeover in Gabon follows coups in Guinea, Chad and Niger, plus two each in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020.

The takeovers have erased democratic gains in a region where insecurity and widespread poverty have weakened elected governments, worrying international powers with strategic interests at stake.

The White House said on Friday that it was pursuing "viable diplomatic solutions" to the situations in both Gabon and Niger, where a coup ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

Alternance 2023 has said it wants a full vote count from Saturday's election, which it said would show Ondo Ossa had won.

Gabon's election commission said after the election that Bongo had been re-elected with 64 percent of the vote, while Ondo Ossa secured almost 31 percent.

Ballot counting was done without independent observers amid an internet blackout.

Pangha said the opposition hoped to get an invitation from the junta to discuss the Central African country's transition plan but said it had not received anything yet.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council on Thursday called for fair and transparent elections.

It said it would impose sanctions on the coup leaders if they did not restore constitutional order.