A group of senior Gabonese army officers announced early Wednesday on television that they had seized power, just minutes after the announcement of Ali Bongo's victory in the presidential election for a third term.

Appearing on TV channel Gabon 24, the officers said they represented all Gabon's security and defense forces. They declared the election result null and void, all borders closed until further notice, and state institutions dissolved.

Gunfire was heard in Gabon's capital Libreville on Wednesday, according to a Reuters reporter, shortly after the televised intervention.

The fate of Ali Bongo, who last appeared in public on Saturday when he went to vote, remained uncertain.

Should the coup be confirmed, it would represent the eighth overthrow of power in West and Central Africa since 2020, just one month after the army putsch in Niger.

Military juntas have also seized power in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Chad.

The context in Gabon is different from Niger and other countries in the Sahel region, where a violent Islamist insurgency has eroded public confidence in democratically elected governments.

A coup d'état in the country would nevertheless be seen as a further sign of democratic backsliding in an increasingly unstable region.

Ali Bongo has already served two terms as president of the oil-producing country since succeeding his father Omar Bongo, who died in 2009 after ruling since 1967.

His critics believe he has done little to redirect the wealth generated by oil production to a population of some 2.3 million, a third of whom live in poverty.

"Today, the country is going through a serious institutional, political, economic and social crisis," the officers said in a statement, claiming that the August 26 elections had lacked transparency and credibility.

"In the name of the Gabonese people, and guarantor of the protection of institutions, we have decided to defend peace by putting an end to the current regime", they added.

As one officer read out the joint declaration, a dozen others stood silently behind him, dressed in military fatigues and berets.

The officers introduced themselves as members of the Comité de Transition et de Restauration des Institutions.

TENSE CONTEXT

Before the officers' announcement, tensions were already high in Gabon, where presidential and legislative elections were held on Saturday, marked by allegations of fraud denied by Ali Bongo's team.

However, the absence of international observers, the suspension of some foreign TV channels and the authorities' decision to cut off Internet access and impose a nationwide night-time curfew after the poll have raised concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.

In the early hours of the morning, the streets of the capital Libreville seemed calm, while residents gathered outside. Some applauded the passing of a group of soldiers in a vehicle, but there was no sign of celebration or widespread concern.

"If this is confirmed, it is another military coup that increases instability throughout the region", worried the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.

France is following the situation in Niger "with the utmost attention", said French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. France has 350 French soldiers stationed in the country, according to the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

PRECEDENT IN 2019

Several hours after the officers' announcement, the internet network appeared to be restored for the first time since Saturday's elections, a Reuters journalist noted.

Earlier, the president of the Gabonese Elections Centre (CGE) had announced that Ali Bongo had won a third term in the presidential election with 64.27% of the vote against 30.77% for his main opponent, Albert Ondo Ossa.

In January 2019, a few months after Ali Bongo suffered a stroke, an attempted coup d'état was carried out by soldiers who briefly seized the state radio station to broadcast a message stating that the president was no longer fit to hold office.

The situation was restored a few hours later, after two of the alleged coup plotters were killed and others arrested.

In response to the latest coup attempt, the Eramet mining group announced on Wednesday that it was halting its activities in the country, causing its share price to fall by 20% on the Paris stock exchange.

TotalEnergies, also present in the country, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The subsidiary TotalEnergies EP Gabon fell by 15% on the stock market.

(Reported by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome, with contributions from Alessandra Prentice and Sofia Christensen, edited by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Nellie Peyton; French version by Camille Raynaud, Zhifan Liu and Blandine Hénault, edited by Tangi Salaün and Kate Entringer)

by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome