People in the central African state of Gabon awaited a steer on their future on Thursday after rebel army officers brought the curtain down on 55 years of rule by the Bongo family. But they kept a 6:00pm-6:00am curfew “to maintain calm and serenity” and Gabon’s borders remained closed. In 2016 he was re-elected — again in fiercely disputed conditions — before suffering a stroke in 2018 that weakened his grip on power. Election triggerThe coup announcement came just moments after the national election authority declared Bongo had won a third term in Saturday’s election with 64.27 percent of the vote. A rigged vote could amount to a civilian “institutional coup,” he said.
