Gabon: Gabon’s military government, which seized power in a coup, appointed former opposition leader Mr. Raymond Ndong Sima as the Prime Minister of its transitional government. The 68-year-old economist was an outspoken critic of the ousted President Mr. Ali Bongo.
Mr. Sima served as Mr. Bongo’s Prime Minister from 2012 to 2014, then resigned and ran against him for president in 2016. The former PM became part of an opposition coalition in 2023. The appointment was made through a decree by the new strongman, General Brice Oligui Nguema, who was recently sworn in as interim president. In his inauguration speech, Mr. Oligui promised to hold “free, transparent, and credible elections” to restore civilian rule but did not give a timeframe.
Mr. Abdou Abarry, special representative of the UN secretary-general in Central Africa, met Mr. Nguema in Libreville and told him that the United Nations would assist the country as it made a new start.
The coup in Gabon was the eighth in three years in West and Central Africa, though it occurred differently from the most recent army takeover in Niger. Unlike Niger, Gabon has not seen an outpouring of anti-French and pro-Russian sentiment, and the generals in charge in Libreville have appeared open to dialogue with international organisations.
The Central African regional bloc, ECCAS, suspended Gabon but sent the President of the Central African Republic, Mr. Faustin-Archange Touadéra, as its representative to meet Mr. Nguema. Mr. Touadéra told reporters he had also met Mr. Bongo with Mr. Nguema’s permission. Mr. Bongo had been under house arrest after the coup, but the military government said in a statement that he was now free and could travel abroad for medical checks.
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