African Union to ‘immediately suspend’ Gabon after military coup ousts Bongo

AFP | The African Union Commission’s Political Affairs, Peace and Security Department “strongly condemns the military takeover of power” in Gabon and “decides to immediately suspend the participation of Gabon in all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions until the restoration of constitutional order in the country,” said the AU in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The announcement followed an AU Peace and Security Council meeting on Thursday to discuss the situation in Gabon.

The meeting was chaired by the AU commissioner for political affairs, Bankole Adeoye of Nigeria, and the current holder of the council’s rotating chair, Willy Nyamitwe of Burundi.

The decision came hours after Gabon’s military junta said the general who led the overthrow of the Bongo dynasty, Brice Oligui Nguema, would be sworn in on Monday as the country’s transitional president.

General Nguema’s swearing-in would take place at the constitutional court, the army announced on state TV.

The junta also said it would “respect all commitments” at home and abroad and “phase in transitional institutions”, Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, spokesman for Gabon’s newly formed Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), said on state TV on Thursday, a day after rebel officers ousted Bongo.

The country’s coup chief Nguema “wishes to reassure all donors, development partners and the state’s creditors that all measures will be taken to guarantee that our country’s commitments, both external and internal, will be respected”, said Manfoumbi.