Coup in Gabon follows a West African pattern

Soon after the election results were announced in which incumbent president Ali Bongo Ondimba was declared a winner by the country’s election commission, the presidential guard went on national television that it has taken over, put the president under arrest, annulled the election results and dissolved all the government institutions including the election commission, the parliament and the highest court. The presidential guard spokesman said that they were taking over in the name of the Gabonese people, even as the deposed president appealed to the people to make noise against the coup.

For outside observers, the coup in Gabon seems to be following a pattern set in the region by coups in Male, Burkina Faso, Niger. Gabon main economic resource is oil though three-fourths of its people remain poor. The other factor is that the Bongo family has been in power for over half-a-century. Ali Bongo succeeded his father in 2009.

Though a French colony, Gabon has recently joined the British Commonwealth. It might seem that the Gabon army was inspired by the coups in the neighbouring countries for them to seize power. But there is more to the situation than meets the eye. As expected France has opposed the coup which shows that outside powers would prefer a status quo, and if there were to be a change they would prefer a democratic, gradual one. The opposition has criticised the election and said it was not fair, that ballot papers with the opposition candidate’s name were not available in many of the polling booths. It is certainly the case that the Gabon coup is not an isolated instance, and it is part of a common resistance to the European domination of the African countries, and that of their economic resources.

It is indeed the case that in many of the African countries, especially the poorer ones, the European powers directly, or indirectly through private militias, have been playing a divisive role in the civil wars raging in these countries. This has only resulted in many of the poor people from these countries trying to flee their homelands and reach Europe in search of livelihoods. The attempt at migration from Africa has witnessed many a tragedy with many of the migration boats sinking or being turned away by the coastal guards of Greece, Italy, and France. And many of the hapless migrants from Africa dying in their attempt to reach Europe.

The armies of countries like Gabon, Burkina Faso, Male or Niger are not self-sufficient forces with arms and ammunition of their own. Most of their arms come from European powers in the form of imports. And it looks like the armies of vulnerable African countries seem to have sensed their dictatorial leaders were making deals with the European powers to lead privileged lives. The armies, it would appear, want a piece of the pie of privilege and opulence of the dictators. And there is a fierce arms trade in these countries by European governments as well as arms merchants, some of them operating illegally.  

Gabon then joins the group of countries slipping towards political chaos from political tyranny. It can hardly be called a choice. It is moving from the proverbial frying pan to the fire. Many of these countries which have fallen to coups in recent times have a weak democratic infrastructure, where elections are not fair and parliaments do not reflect the voice of the people. But the military leaders who seize power promise return to democratic rule because they too know that it is a hard task to hold poor countries together. Democracy with all its faults seems to be the ultimate solution to dictators and to armies which overthrow dictators.