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This video grab taken from Gabon 24 shows Gabonese soldiers appearing on television on August 30, 2023. /CFP
A group of senior Gabonese military officers appeared on national television in the early hours of Wednesday and said they had taken power, minutes after the state election body announced President Ali Bongo had won a third term.
Appearing on television channel Gabon 24, the officers said they represented all security and defense forces in the Central African nation. They said the election results were cancelled, all borders closed until further notice and state institutions dissolved.
Hours later, they said Bongo and one of his sons had been placed under house arrest for "treason."
Loud sounds of gunfire could be heard in the capital, Libreville, after the first television appearance, a Reuters reporter said.
The servicemen introduced themselves as members of "The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions." The state institutions they declared dissolved included the government, the senate, the national assembly, the constitutional court and the election body.
If successful, the coup would represent the eighth in West and Central Africa since 2020. These include coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.
Gabon foiled an attempted military coup in January 2019 after soldiers briefly seized the state radio station and broadcast a message saying Bongo, who had suffered a stroke months earlier, was no longer fit for office. The situation was restored hours later after two of the suspected coup plotters were killed and others arrested.
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Copyright © 2023 CGTN. 京ICP备16065310号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466