Ali Bongo Ondimba (in cap) and his wife, Sylvia (in blue shirt), at a campaign rally on 19 August 2023.
Malkolm M./Afrikimages Agency/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Ali Bongo’s illness, the contagion effect of other recent successful coups and palace power tussles are factors responsible for Gabon’s recent coup.
Gabonese woman embracing a soldier after the announcement of the coup.
Desirey Minkoh/Afrikimages agency/Universal images group via Getty images
Failed developmental promises, ever shifting domestic elite alliances and popular demand for better living conditions contributed to the military removal of Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba.
Gabon President Ali Bongo Ondimba speaks during a trade conference in London in 2018.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Gabon is resource rich, but the Bongo family’s continuous rule has been bad news for the country of 2.3 million people.
Gabonese President, Ali Bongo Ondimba, wants to be president for life.
Thorston Wagner/EPA
Gabon’s Ali Bongo Ondimba has watched over constitutional changes that have given him far reaching powers.
The remains of a burned car outside Gabon’s National Assembly. It was set alight during unrest after the disputed reelection of President Ali Bongo.
Reuters/Edward McAllister
Ali Bongo seems to have won Gabon’s elections. Yet his contested “victory” has radically changed the political field in this soft democracy, one of Africa’s richest and most stable.
Protesters in Paris against Gabonese President Ali Bongo with placards reading: 1967-2016, 50 years in power is enough!
AAP
Gabon has the lowest trust ratings of any election commission among the 36 African countries surveyed by Afrobarometer.