Brice Oligui Nguema will be sworn in as transitional president of Gabon on September 4

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema will be sworn in as Gabon’s transitional president on September 4. This is what Agence France Presse (AFP) reported, citing a military press release.

According to the source, the general will be sworn in as transitional president on Monday September 4 before the Constitutional Court.

A lesser evil

Former Gabonese Prime Minister Raymond Ndong Sima called the events of August 30 in Gabon a “bloodless coup” and the “lesser evil” in the existing situation.

“We can only be satisfied by the fact that yesterday the military interfered in the electoral process and disrupted it and that it happened without bloodshed. In the current situation, this may be the lesser evil. In democratic regimes, we can hope to achieve political change through elections when the emphasis is on impartial institutions with transparent rules.

Elections must have a solid legal basis that offers everyone the same chances of success. But in recent years, things have not happened like this in our country,” he declared on social networks.

According to Raymond Ndong Sima, the transition period in Gabon must have a specific period and result in the adoption of a new Constitution and new elections. The military must “enter the political landscape of the country in order to create a new electoral process worthy of a democratic system and to promise not to participate in the elections personally”.

On August 30, a group of senior Gabonese military officials announced on national television that they had come to power. The putschists canceled the results of the August 26 elections, won by Ali Bongo Ondimba, candidate for a third term. The military said the president was “kept under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors.” Subsequently, General Brice Oligui Nguema was designated as leader of the transition by the military.