PRETORIA, September 8. /TASS/. The mutineers in Gabon have adopted a charter of transition, which was published in the government’s newspaper the Journal Officiel de la Republique Gabonaise.
"We, the members of the defense and security forces of the Republic of Gabon, members of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, abbreviated CTRI, together with the viable forces of the Gabonese Nation, approve and adopt this Charter of Transition," the document said.
The goals stated by the charter include rebuilding the government, establishing new strong institutions, preservation of territorial integrity, major political, economic and administrative reforms, strengthening the independence of the judiciary, the protection of human rights, the establishment of good governance, the drafting of a new constitution and its adoption by referendum, and the organization of free democratic and transparent elections.
It set out the "organs of the transition" as follows: the president of the transition, the National Transition Council, the government of transition, the Transition Parliament and the Constitutional Court of Transition.
General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema was inaugurated the transitional head of state on September 4. He decreed to overhaul the Constitutional Court and appointed Raymond Ndong Sima as the prime minister of the transitional cabinet.
Senior Gabonese military officers on August 30 announced on national television that they had seized power in the country. The mutineers canceled the results of the August 26 presidential election that installed Ali Bongo Ondimba as president for a third straight term. They dissolved the cabinet, suspended some other institutions and on August 30 proclaimed Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema as the country’s transitional leader.