Head of Gabon military junta Gen Oligui is Bongo’s “cousin”

Military officers who took power in Gabon on Wednesday have named General Brice Oligui Nguema as transition leader.

Mr Nguema is the commander-in-chief of the Gabonese Republican Guard, the country’s most powerful security unit and is said to be a cousin to President Bongo.

Mr Nguema, a powerful figure in the country, is the son of a military officer. He trained at the Royal Military Academy of Meknes in Morocco before serving as Bongo’s aide-de-camp in the Republican Guard until the former president’s death in 2009.

Coup

Soldiers deposed long-serving President Ali Bongo and put him under house arrest, sparking early morning celebrations in the central African nation.

Mr Bongo and his father ruled the oil rich since for 56 years. He took over after his father died in 2009. On Monday, the country’s electoral body announced that Mr Bongo had won a third term.

In an overnight television announcement, a dozen senior officers declared the election results cancelled, closed borders and dissolved state institutions.

They said the August 26 election was not transparent or credible, and said Gabon was “undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis.”

“President Ali Bongo is under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors,” the soldiers, calling themselves The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions, said in a statement read out on state TV.

The soldiers said one of his sons and close adviser Noureddin Bongo Valentin had been arrested for “treason”.

Mr Bongo’s chief of staff Ian Ghislain Ngoulou, his deputy and two other presidential advisers and the two top officials in the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) “have been arrested”, a military leader said.

They are also accused of treason, embezzlement, corruption and falsifying the president’s signature, among other allegations.

Call for help

Mr Bongo called for help hours after soldiers announced the coup.

In a brief video posted on social media, Mr Bongo confirmed he had been placed under arrest and issued the plea calling on “friends” to “make noise”.

He said was detained alone in the presidential palace, but his wife and children were elsewhere.

Gabonese have trooped to the streets celebrating the coup with the country’s flag and songs.