Gabon: Military junta sanctions reopening of borders with ‘immediate effect’

The military junta in Gabon announced on Saturday that it would reopen the country’s borders earlier closed following the coup that removed long-term leader, Ali Bongo.

A Spokesman for Gabon’s military chiefs said on state television that the junta “decided with immediate effect to reopen the land, sea and air borders as of this Saturday”.

The junta earlier said they had dissolved national institutions across Gabon and cancelled the election results that was controversially won by Bongo as well as shutting the border of the central African country.

The officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema toppled the civilian administration in the central African country, just minutes after Bongo was declared the winner of a third term in an election.

Bongo has since been placed under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.

In a televised address on Friday evening, Nguema said the junta would proceed quickly to hand over power but that it would avoid elections that “repeat the same mistakes” by keeping the same people in power.

General Nguema is expected to be sworn in as “transitional president” later on Monday.

Since 2020, there have been coups in Guinea, Chad, and Niger, as well as two each in Mali and Burkina Faso.

On Friday, the White House stated that it was interested in “viable diplomatic solutions” to the problems in Gabon and Niger, where a coup deposed President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.