We will ?respect all commitments? after coup – Gabon junta

Gabon will respect all its commitments at home and abroad, the junta announced on Thursday, August 31, aiming to “reassure all donors, development partners and the state’s creditors” a day after President Ali Bongo was ousted.

The junta also sought to reassure donors they 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.

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.

The general who led the overthrow of the Bongo dynasty, Brice Oligui Nguema, will be sworn in on Monday as transitional president, the army announced on state TV.

General Nguema’s swearing-in would take place at the constitutional court.

Wednesday’s coup came shortly after Gabon’s election commission announced the results of the August 26 presidential contest giving the incumbent 64 percent of the vote and another term in office.

On Thursday, Gabon’s main opposition alliance urged military officers who seized power to continue the election process and finish counting the presidential vote, which it said was falsely awarded to Bongo before the count was completed.

The opposition Alternance 2023 alliance had been silent after the coup but on Thursday “invited the defence and security forces to the discussion so as to work out … the best solution” following the vote.

Led by university professor Albert Ondo Ossa, Alternance had earlier accused Bongo of “fraud” and demanded he hand over power “without bloodshed”.

The junta’s announcement on Thursday came as the African Union’s Peace and Security Council was holding a meeting on the situation in Gabon.

“Now – AU Peace & Security Council meets to consider the situation in Gabon,” the AU body said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

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