The coup epidemic

 Another African country fell under the jackboots last Wednesday with the ouster of President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon in a coup d’état. It was the eighth coup in West and Central Africa within three years and the second in just barely above a month, coming after the Niger Republic coup on 26th July. It also marked further rollback of the influence of France on the continent, the successive coups that have taken place being in its former colonies – and that includes Gabon.

Ali Bongo, 64, was sacked on the heels of being declared winner of an election conducted penultimate Saturday by the Gabonese electoral board. He was said to have won with 64.27 percent of the vote over his main challenger, Albert Ondo Ossa, a university professor, said to have secured 30.77 percent votes. That election was, however, anything but credible or transparent, and the opposition argued it was downright fraudulent. Contrary to global best practice, international observers were not allowed,  foreign media outlets were barred from its coverage (with local media being largely being parrots of the governing establishment) and internet services were shut down as polling drew to a close. A nighttime curfew was as well imposed nationwide. The Bongo administration had said it slammed in the web blackout to prevent spread of fake news, and the curfew to safeguard public safety. 

The purported win was to have handed Ali Bongo a third term after having been in power for 14 years. The Bongo family ruled over the Central African country of 2.3million people for more than 55 years in its 63 years of nationhood since independence from France in 1960. And in those years in control, the family reportedly amassed a fortune reckoned to compare favourably with, if not exceeding the entire country’s net worth. Ali Bongo’s father, Omar, held despotic sway for 42 years from 1967 until his death in 2009, upon which the son took the reins and had ruled ever since. Gabon moved from being a frontal dictatorship under Omar Bongo towards a semblance of democracy under his son, Ali Bongo, but that shift was largely tokenistic. Both of Ali Bongo’s previous wins were disputed as fraudulent by opponents. There was an election in 2016 that was marked by deadly violence after Bongo edged out rival Jean Ping by just 5,500 votes according to the official tally. In 2019, there was a botched coup attempt in which mutinying soldiers, who ended up in prison thereafter, reference this poll as rigged. And in penultimate Saturday’s poll, controversial changes were reportedly made to the voting papers just weeks before election day. Main challenger, Ossa, complained that polling stations in many areas lacked ballot papers bearing his name, while an opposition coalition said the names of some of those who had withdrawn from the race were left on the ballot. The president’s team refuted the charges of poll fraud, of course.

Not that Ali Bongo was in good shape helthwise for the rigours of the presidency. In 2018, he suffered a stroke on a trip abroad that sidelined him for nearly a year and raised questions about his fitness to continue in office. But he held on with frail gait and all. Before Wednesday’s putsch, he was last seen in public casting his vote on election day. In his outings before the poll, he looked healthier than his previous rare and frail television appearances following the 2019 stroke.

“The Gabon coupists are no messiahs (but) just another band of unruly opportunists”

Gabon is by all accounts a basket case. The country is one of Africa’s major oil producers, putting out some 200,000 barrels per day from depleting oil fields. The country also harbors the world’s largest manganese mines. Both the oil and manganese were explored mainly by French corporations – the oil by France’s TotalEnergies and Anglo-French producer, Perenco, and the manganese by French miner Eramet. Critics say the Bongo family failed to channel Gabon’s oil and other natural resources towards development, leaving nearly 90 percent of the land area covered by forests and about a third of the population in poverty. Analysts also argued that the coup wasn’t just a kick against a family hegemony that never profited the people, but also against France that held the economy in thrall – just as in the other African countries that are its former colonies where coups had taken place. 

In a pre-dawn address, Wednesday, a group of soldiers announced the ouster of Ali Bongo, dissolution of “all the institutions of the republic” including the electoral board, and cancellation of the election results. They also suspended the constitution, extended the curfew Bongo had imposed until further notice, and shut the country’s borders. Calling themselves ‘Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions,’ the power grabbers said Gabon was “undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic and social crisis.” They touted their intervention as restoring the country “on the road to happiness,” adding that Libreville will respect its commitments to the national and international communities. Meanwhile, Ali Bongo, according to them, was under house arrest while his son and close adviser, Noureddin Bongo Valentin, two senior aides and two top officials of the ruling party were arrested on charges of treason, embezzlement and falsifying the president’s signature, among other charges. Some 24 hours later, they named the head of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, “transitional president.”

But the Gabon coupists are no messiahs, they are just another band of unruly opportunists going by examples of all recent coups on the continent. The situation in Niger is yet to stabilise since the 26th July intervention by which soldiers ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and are presently under pressure by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to backtrack. And instability has been the hallmark in all other instances. There were two coups in Burkina Faso: one in January 2022 by which President Roch Kabore was removed and Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba emerged junta leader, and another in September 2022 that saw Captain Ibrahim Traore kick Damiba out of power. In September 2021, special forces led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya overthrew President Alpha Conde of Guinea after he altered the country’s constitution to get around term limit, thereby igniting domestic unrest. In Mali, there were as well two coups. In August 2020, a gang of Malian colonels under the command of Assimi Goita overthrew President Boubacar Keita following anti-government protests about worsening insecurity, disputed legislative polls and corruption allegations. The junta agreed to an interim administration dominated by civilians and led by retired Colonel Bah Ndaw that was to oversee  an 18-month transition to democratic elections in February 2022; but following a clash between the coup leader and the interim president, the junta staged a second coup in May 2021 and Assimi Goita, who had served as vice-president in the interim regime, seized the reins as head of government. And in Northeast Africa, there is Sudan where a civil war with heavy human toll is yet raging between two warlords – Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the armed forces and Mohamed Dagalo of the Janjaweed militia – who had teamed up to oust President Omar al-Bashir  amidst a civil uprising against him in 2019.  

A common backdrop to the coups, obviously, is bad leadership: in Gabon, bad leadership by a family hegemony oiled in power with fraudulent polls. But military intervention has never offered a helpful alternative, even to bad leadership. In other words, examples of where soldiers have faired better in governance than politicians are scarce. And whereas opposition can thrive under a democratic setting and there is always the hope of another polling opportunity to change a bad government, such prospects are non-existent under military juntas. They rule by fiats and diktats and are intolerant of opposition. That is why they must not be allowed anywhere, including in Gabon. The African Union and relevant sub-regional blocs should do all that is necessary to kick the jackboots out. Not that Ali Bongo himself makes this any easier, though, with his “make some noise” viral video which gave the impression that  pressure on coup makers is empty sabre rattling.

On the other hand, recurring coups should be a wake-up call to the African power elite on the need to strengthen democratic institutions and promote good governance as would not offer excuses for intervention by military adventurers in power.