The AU suspends Gabon from the Union after the military coup On Thursday, the African Union (AU) suspended Gabon from membership, a day aft...
%20(31).jpeg "The AU suspends Gabon from the Union after the military coup")
The AU suspends Gabon from the Union after the military coup
On Thursday, the African Union (AU) suspended Gabon from membership, a day after the overthrow of the country's president, Ali Bongo.
This is the first regional step taken by the group as a response to the eighth coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.
The coup ended the rule of the Bongo dynasty for almost sixty years and created a new conflict in the region that has faced the storm of coup.
Tinubu, who heads the West African Economic Development Organization (ECOWAS), said on Thursday that "the fear is confirmed in Gabon, that is, there are beginning to be imitators of this situation."
The Peace and Security Committee of the African Union took the first step on Thursday by preventing the country of Gabon from participating in all activities of the organization and its institutions until the restoration of democratic governance in the country.
The Central African Political Union, of which Gabon is a member, condemned the coup in a statement and said it would organize a meeting of heads of state to determine how to respond. But she did not say the time.
Before dawn on Wednesday, Gabonese military commanders announced a coup d'état, shortly after the country's electoral commission announced that Bongo had won for the third time in the election held on Saturday.
Later on Wednesday, a video showed Bongo locked in his house, asking for help from the international community, but apparently unaware of what was happening around him.
Gabon's main opposition platform, Alternance 2023, thanked the military government on Thursday for ending Bongo's years of rule.
What is happening in Gabon comes after the recent coups in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger. The coup also showed the failure of the major African countries to take decisive action once the military took control of the country.
ECOWAS threatened to use military force in Niger after the July 26 coup and impose sanctions, but the military government did not back down. Military leaders in some places have also denounced the pressure from countries on the restoration of civilian rule.