Gabon Coup: ‘Please Help Me, Make Noise to the World’ – Alli Bongo Begs Friends

The ousted President of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondinga has pleaded with fellow country presidents and his friends to come to his aid.

In a video clip posted after his ouster, he frantically begged his “friends” to “make noise” to the world about the coup saying he has been put under house arrest by the coup leaders and has no idea what is going on around him.

While Ali Bongo, was placed under house arrest by military coup leaders in the country. one of his sons was arrested for treason.

This is coming hours after military officers in Gabon took over power from the President who was recently reelected in an alleged flawed election.

Giving reason for their action, the coup leaders said serious institutional, political, economic, and social crises were factors responsible for the coup that they tagged ‘necessary’ for the progress of their country.

The coup leaders, upon taking over the country, dissolved all the institutions of the republic, the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Constitutional Court.

According to Al-Jazeera, Gabon coup leaders on Wednesday disclosed that President Bongo is under house arrest and one of his sons has been arrested for “treason.”

The coup leaders said in a statement read on state TV, “President Ali Bongo is under house arrest, surrounded by his family and doctors.”

Al Jazeera’s reporter, Nicolas Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, said there is a heavy presence of security

forces on the streets of Libreville.

Haque said, “The presidential guards seems to have taken control of the presidential palace, and they have taken key positions around the National Assembly and the Senate.”

According to AFP, a worried-looking Bongo in the video clip posted on social media confirmed he and his family were indeed arrested.

He said, “I’m sending a message to all friends that we have all over the world to tell them to make noise for (…) the people here who arrested me and my family.”