Gabon: EU rules out evacuation of workers, says situation calm after coup
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stated on Thursday that the EU does not intend to evacuate its workers from coup-torn Gabon because the “situation is calm.”
Speaking to reporters before an informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Toledo, Spain, Borrell said recent happenings in the Central African country “give ground for concern, but we are not doing evacuation like in Niger.”
Borrell indicated that the “situation is calm at the moment, there is no violence” in Gabon that would justify the evacuation of the EU delegation.
He added that “a military coup is not a solution” even if “there might have been irregularities around” Saturday’s polls.
The EU is “working on the diplomatic front” and analyzing the developments, he said.
The EU’s foreign ministers will meet again on Thursday to debate the union’s reaction to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the situation in Africa’s Sahel region.
Spain, the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, is hosting the conference.
The EU will also assess the body’s response to the military coup in Niger, including possible sanctions on the junta.
John Azumah, secretary-general of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and Hassoumi Massaoudou, foreign minister of Niger’s ousted government, will also participate in the meeting.
