The African Union suspended Gabon, where troops toppled President Ali Bongo Ondimba on Wednesday, with immediate effect on Thursday.
The AU “strongly condemns the military takeover of power in the Republic of Gabon,” according to a press statement released on X (previously Twitter).
According to the press statement, the organization’s Peace and Security Council “decides to immediately suspend Gabon’s participation in all activities of the AU, its organs and institutions.”
The meeting was presided over by the African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Nigerian Bankole Adeoye, and the current holder of the council’s rotating presidency, Burundian Willy Nyamitwe.
On Wednesday, the African Union commission head, Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly” condemned what he called a “attempted coup” in Gabon, the oil-rich central African country ruled by the Bongo family for nearly 55 years.
Putschist troops said on Wednesday that they had “put an end to the regime in place” in Gabon and had placed President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been in power for 14 years, under house arrest, barely hours after the formal confirmation of his win in Saturday’s presidential election.
Moussa Faki Mahamat also urged the Gabonese army and security services to “guarantee Ali Bongo Ondimba’s physical integrity.”
