Gabon Military Junta Set To Reopen Borders Days After Coup

Military coup leaders in Gabon, on Saturday, stated that it would reopen the country’s borders, closed in the wake of the military coup that ousted ex-president Ali Bongo.

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

Recall that a group of 12 Gabonese soldiers on Wednesday took over the power from President Ali Bongo and announced the closure of the country’s borders until further notice.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of the elite Republican Guard, on Wednesday, disclosed that President Bongo had been sent into retirement and has become an ordinary citizen.

His ousting came just moments after Bongo was proclaimed winner of last Saturday’s presidential elections, which was branded a fraud by the opposition.

The coup leaders said they had dissolved the nation’s institutions and cancelled the election results as well as closing the borders.

Oligui is due on Monday to be sworn in as “transitional president”.

Five other countries in Africa — Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger — have undergone coups in the last three years. Their new rulers have resisted demands for a short timetable for returning to barracks.