Gabon's president calls on citizens to 'make noise' after coup attempt

Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba has called on citizens to "make noise" to support him after a coup attempt.

Mutinous soldiers claimed to have seized power in Gabon on Wednesday and put the president under house arrest, hours after he was declared the winner in an election to extend his family’s 55-year rule in the oil-rich Central African nation.

Bongo pleaded for support, appearing in a video showing him sat in a chair with a bookshelf behind him. He said he was in his residence and his wife and son were in different places.

“I’m calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise really,” he said. The video was shared with The Associated Press by BTP Advisers, a communications firm that helped the president with polling for this election.

But crowds instead took to the streets of the capital and sang the national anthem to celebrate the coup attempt.

“Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Yollande Okomo, standing in front of soldiers from Gabon’s elite republican guard.

Bongo has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years.

Election win

There’s been widespread discontent with the Bongo family for years, said Maja Bovcon, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm.

But she said more immediate inspiration likely came from a recent spate of coups in the Sahel region of Africa where military officers have shown that they can seize power without repercussions.

Early on Wednesday, Bongo was declared winner of an election criticised by international observers. Within minutes of the announcement, gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital Libreville.

Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power. Soon after, crowds poured into the streets.

The soldiers who claimed power Wednesday planned to "dissolve all institutions of the republic," said a spokesman for the group. He said that Bongo’s “unpredictable, irresponsible governance” risked leading the country into chaos.

The coup attempt came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups that have challenged governments with ties to France, the region's former coloniser.

Gabon's coup, if successful would bring the number of coups in West and Central Africa to eight since 2020.