NEWS ANALYSIS

BY STEVE OGAH

(With the contribution of Bouraima Salifou)

The mist from smoking guns has not cleared over Libreville, the capital of the African country of Gabon, following Wednesday’s military coup. But the recently announced coup by a group of soldiers further diminishes the little light of civil rule flickering on the continent. And there are grim sentiments that democracy or any of its strange posturing is being killed slowly in most politically troubled African countries weakened by autocratic rule, sit-tight leaders, and outright dictators of the most violent genetic strain ever witnessed by a bewildered humanity.

Gabon has long been under the halo of an impending military takeover. It has also been in the shadows of an uprising. Again, the country has a date with a people’s revolution, some analysts believe. It is a country often in the news for the befuddling political excesses of father and son, a ruling house that has suffocated the country and its suffering masses with an unyielding anaconda squeeze for too long a time, precisely 56 traumatic years.

Gabon gained political independence from France on August 17, 1960, and has failed to put its house of political and social commotions in order. The troubles with the country are identical to the socio-political traumas haunting most other African countries. The land is in the chokehold of one family and its local, regional, and foreign enablers. After its first President, Leon Mba, died, Gabon was ruled from 1967 to 2009 by one man, Omar Bongo Ondimba. Then he died. No one will receive a prize for guessing who took over. A successor was standing like a menacing figure in the shadows all along.

Ali Bongo Ondimba, late President Omar Bongo’s son, ruled Gabon from 2009 until the current coup. Imperiled by the sheer enormity of his office and ill-health, he has devised every trick in the dark books of politics and autocratic theories to hold onto power and its privileges. He had won a reelection just three days back. But the soldiers in the country thought something else had taken place. Perhaps he hadn’t won the election in a bone-clean way, expected in a true democracy where rules are transparent and respected and where opposition candidates and ordinary citizens are not intimidated and brutalized for holding divergent views from the ruling Gabonese political dynasty. The real reasons for the recent military coup may be deeper down the surface than we know. But the coup leaders have made early remarks.

In available media reports, the coup leaders have described the ousted government of Ali Bongo with fault-finding terms, citing irresponsibility and unpredictability.

The former President set himself up for this avoidable coup through his highhandedness, the degrading of civil liberties, the muscling of opposition voices, and other anti-democratic practices. Watchers of the digital superhighway reported that internet connectivity was degraded in the country during the elections, shutting the government from civilized discourses and disclosures to the outside world. On August 26, Britannica.com reported: “Gabon imposes curfew and cuts internet access as voting wraps us in major elections.” But who would cut sources of information during crucial elections? The answer is blowing in the wind! The move to restrict the flow of information was intended to weaken activists, independent election observers, and citizen reporters.

Ali Bongo and his family of enablers are to blame for the current tragedy of the gun that has befallen the country. Will the new rulers let him return to power? The chances are slim. And many observers don’t even think so. The former President may have kissed the canvas for good. Or bad? It is still early in the day to tell.

There will always be two sides to the narratives, whatever the objectives for this latest military takeover on Africa’s west coast. There will be those for and those against the newest army boys in town. Whichever side people swing to, the world and humanity must remember to take the side of Gabon’s poor, ordinary, and suffering people. The Bongo family traumatized them in no small terms. Gabon is bleeding. The world must come to its rescue, asking the new military rulers to conduct credible elections and return the country to genuine democracy and the will of the majority of its people.