Hundreds of Gabon’s citizens flooded the capital, Libreville, to celebrate the end of President Ali Bongo and the 53-year rule of his family in the country.
The wild jubilation followed after a group of senior military officers said they had seized power on Wednesday.
The world woke up on Wednesday morning to witness that another junta took over the government in Africa after a coup.
Bongo, who was removed, is the son of late President Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon for almost 42 years, from 1967 until his death in 2009.
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He, then started his rule after the death of his father and just won a presidential election on Saturday following two-thirds votes at the polls, to start his third term in government.
However, the mutinous soldiers put Bong under house arrest, a development that was greeted with celebration by the citizens of the oil-rich Central African nation.
Within minutes of the declaration of the election result, gunfire was heard in the centre of Libreville.
Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power.
Opponents say the Bongo family has done little to share the state’s oil and mining wealth with its 2.3 million people during its more than half a century in charge of Gabon.
According to Al Jazeera, immediately after the end of Bongo’s rule was announced, crowds took to the streets in jubilation including a shopkeeper Viviane Mbou, who offered the soldiers juice, which they declined.
“Long live our army,” said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with police.
“I am marching today because I am joyful. After almost 60 years, the Bongos are out of power,” says Jules Lebigui, an unemployed 27-year-old who joined the celebrations on Libreville’s streets.
The coup was condemned by the West and the rest of the world because of the widespread military takeovers in the Sahel.
Photo credit: Al Jazeera
