General Brice Oligui Nguema, who led the coup that deposed Gabon’s 55-year-old ruling dynasty last week, took the oath of office as temporary president on Monday, vowing “free, transparent, and credible elections” to restore civilian government but not specifying a timetable.
He promised to release political prisoners in a speech. He said that the coup saved Gabon from a violent outcome after the clearly biased elections.”
Last Wednesday, Oligui, the head of the Republican Guard, helped arrest President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the oil-rich country since 1967..
The removal happened only seconds after Bongo, 64, was declared the winner of presidential elections, a result that the opposition called fraudulent.
In his speech after becoming president, Oligui said that the upcoming elections are the first step in giving power back to the civilians. However, he did not mention when they would take place..
He stated that he was seeking the cooperation of all of Gabon’s “core groups” in the creation of a new constitution that “will be adopted by referendum.”
Oligui, 48, wearing the Republican Guard’s crimson ceremonial outfit, also stated that he would direct “the future government… to consider ways of amnestying prisoners of conscience” and “facilitating the return of all exiles” from abroad.