Gabon coup: Military puts president under house arrest after disputed election result

One day after Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba was re-elected for his third term as president, an apparent military coup took over the central African nation on Wednesday.

Ondimba was placed under house arrest on Wednesday supposedly “surrounded by his family and doctors,” according to a military spokesperson. The democratically elected leader, however, claimed his son and wife were “somewhere” and in “another place” in a video address shared on Wednesday, in which he asks international “friends” of Gabon to “make noise” to help ensure his freedom.

Odimba’s first term as Gabon’s president began in 2009, following the death of his father, Omar Bongo. Bongo served as Gabon’s leader between 1967 and 2009, meaning their family had been in power for 56 years — something many Gabonese people have been protesting for years.

Since Gabon’s takeover, government officials from France of China have called for the military to restore order in Gabon.

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