Gabon’s new ruler, General Brice Oligui Nguema, received the president of the Central African Republic on Tuesday. Faustin Archange Touadera has been sent to Gabon by a coalition of countries in central Africa to mediate after last week’s coup.
Touadera is supposed to meet “all Gabonese actors and partners of the country” so that constitutional calm can quickly return to the country. He was instructed by the ECCAS, the group of countries that met on Monday to discuss the situation in Gabon. According to the president of Equatorial Guinea, Gabon has been provisionally suspended as a member of that club, which is supposed to regulate economic cooperation between eleven countries.
General Oligui was sworn in as interim president in Gabon on Monday. He promised to hold free and transparent elections. On Wednesday, President Ali Bongo, whose family had ruled the country for decades, was ousted. He has been placed under house arrest. It is not clear whether Touadera will also talk to Bongo during his visit to Gabon.
