President Ali Bongo of Gabon, who has been ousted by the military, has pleaded to be set free.
In a video seen by Daily Trust, the embattled president was heard asking people to “make some noise” about his plight.
The ousted president has also been placed under house arrest alongside some of his family members.
The coupists struck in the early hours of Wednesday, annulling Saturday’s election, which Bongo was declared to have won.
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The soldiers announced the dissolution of all the institutions of the republic, and the parliament, and shut down Gabon’s borders, saying their actions were on behalf of the central African nation’s security and defence forces.
Speaking in the video, the embattled president said, “I am Ali Bongo Ondimba, president of Gabon. I want to send a message to all the friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for the people here who have arrested me and my family.
“My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place and I am at the residence. Right now, I am at the residence and nothing is happening. I don’t know what is going on, so I am calling you to make noise, to make noise really. I am thanking you.”
This is his first public appearance since the coupists struck early Wednesday.
Below is the video:
VIDEO: ‘I can’t find my wife and son’, Gabonese President speaks from detention pic.twitter.com/nl3jEYmneB
— Daily Trust (@daily_trust) August 30, 2023
See video below:
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