PRETORIA, September 4. /TASS/. The leader of the group of military officers that seized power in Gabon, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, has taken the oath of office as the country's interim president, according to a live broadcast by the Gabon Media Time news outlet from the Constitutional Court building in the capital of Libreville.
"I swear to carry out my duties in the interest of the people, to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country," Oligui said. The oath was administered by a member of the Gabonese Constitutional Court, the powers of which were restored by the military. The head of Gabon's transitional government is expected to be named in the coming hours, the news outlet added.
A group of high-ranking officers in the Gabonese armed forces announced on state television on August 30 that they had taken power in the country. The rebels consist of officers serving in the Central African nation’s security forces, armed forces and police, as well as members of the national guard and presidential guard. The rebels canceled the results of the August 26 presidential vote that resulted in President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s re-election as head of state. The military said that the president was under house arrest "surrounded by his family and doctors." He confirmed in a video that he was being held at the presidential residence. Later on August 30, the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions appointed General Oligui as transitional president.
The general is popular and influential in the Gabonese armed forces, according to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). He was born 50 years ago into the family of a Gabonese army officer. Aspiring to a military career, he chose to serve in the Republican Guard, where he was mentored by its commander at the time, Omar Bongo, former president of Gabon (1967-2009) and father of the deposed president. He sent the young officer to study at the Royal Military Academy in Morocco and then gave him the opportunity to undergo special forces training in one of Gabon's equatorial forests.
In 2009, Oligui was appointed military attache at the Gabonese embassies in Morocco and then Senegal. In 2018, he returned to Gabon with the rank of colonel and was appointed head of the General Directorate of Special Services, a unit of the Republican Guard. In 2020, he became the head of the Republican Guard.