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Gabon soldiers announce national council, shots heard in capital
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | Gabon soldiers said on state radio early Monday that a “national restoration council” has been formed, with ailing President Ali Bongo convalescing in Morocco.
Shots were heard in the around state television offices in the centre of the capital around the same time at 6:30 am (0530 GMT), and military vehicles blocked access to the site, an AFP correspondent said.
“COUP DE FEU AU GABON” : https://t.co/qn7tjazENh via @YouTube
— Dengoue jean patrice (@dengouepat) January 7, 2019
Bongo was narrowly re-elected in 2016 following a presidential poll marred by deadly violence and allegations of fraud.
The 59-year-old leader has not been home to Gabon since he fell ill in Saudi Arabia more than two months ago. A lack of official news sparked fevered speculation that he was incapacitated or even dead.
The Bongo family has governed the oil-rich equatorial African nation for five decades. The incumbent replaced his father, who died in 2009.
Only last week, Bongo addressed Gabon through social media for the first time since suffering a stroke on October 24, in a New Year’s message recorded in Morocco and distributed via social and traditional media.
“It is true that I have been through a difficult period, as sometimes happens in life,” he said in a video recorded in Rabat, where the president has been recuperating since end-November.
