The Coup d'Etat in Gabon sounds like a defiance of political morality, in the sense that the international community has, point blank, absolved General Brice OLINGUI NGUEMA of all his guilty sins. It therefore appears, as the savior of the people and the faller of a regime which had trouble with democratic authenticity. In fact, Brice Clotaire OLINGUI NGUEMA has so far aroused very little criticism, whether from the army, from civil society and even opposition parties. We can easily understand this, when we know that Gabon has come a long way, from a dark and long night of almost sixty years of reign of a political oligarchy.
Sixty years of Bongo: years when everything seemed to succeed so well in the clan, with the help and unalterable support of France. A France whose entire policy was designed to strengthen its positions of power in Africa, even if it meant sacrificing the people and their legitimate aspirations. The belittling of the urgent needs of populations is still the case throughout French-speaking Africa. In this occurrence, the sub-regional organizations (CEMAC, CEEAC, etc.) seem to revel in a simian role as a union of heads of state in service, and as an appendage relaying only the political impulses decided by the West.
It took the insight of the military to put an end to the Bongo regime, and begin what is believed to be the end of an era. We hope that the new horizons that are opening up will be less troubled and more likely to bring about democracy, at a time when the Princes of the apocalypse are sounding the tocsin of the worst for Africa. However, we must maintain our reason, and hope that General Brice OLINGUI NGUEMA will not do like some of his predecessors. They have taken the reins of power, the better to persist on their ramps. At the forefront of these examples, we can cite his namesake and no less brother, neighbor and now peer from Central Africa, Théodoro OBIANG NGUEMA. The latter took power in 1979, following a coup d'état which overthrew his uncle MACIAS NGUEMA. Since then, from subterfuge to subterfuge, OBIANG NGUEMA has remained head of state. This has been going on for over forty-five years. It is believed that he has already prepared his eldest son in the person of TEODORO NGUEMA OBIANG MANGUE, already Vice-President of the country, to succeed him.
Denis SASSOU NGUESSO, the President of the Republic of Congo has been at the head of the country several times. He became head of state to the detriment of General Joachim YHOMBI-OPANGO in 1979, and ruled the Congo until 1992. Then, he lost the elections that year and entered into open conflict with Pascal LISSOUBA, his defeater in the elections of 1992. After many maneuvers following the civil war in Brazzaville, SASSOU NGUESSO returned to power thanks to the support of France. Furthermore, the Angolan army is fighting in its favor to the detriment of the defense and security forces and militias from the Pascal LISSOUBA-Bernard KOLELAS coalition. Since then, firmly established in power, he is credited with the intention of wanting to knight his son Denis Christel SASSOU NGUESSO to succeed him.
In Cameroon, Paul BIYA has been at the head of the country for 40 (forty) years, or approximately two generations. In recent years, under various pretexts, he has been able to imprison opponents of his regime and suppress part of the administrative elite that he suspects of wanting to replace him. During the 2018 presidential elections, he was able to obtain a new mandate of 7 (seven) years. In Cameroonian public opinion, many think that he has already prepared his son to succeed him, in case he does not want to run again in the 2024 presidential elections.
So goes Central Africa, a land of impossible political alternation. But where everything becomes possible again due to the coup d’état that occurred on the night of August 30, 2023 in Gabon.
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