The date is the 30 of August 2024, one year since the coup in Gabon that finally got rid of the Bongo family’s reign. The world saw the buzz created by the pathetic video posted on social media by Ali Bongo, calling his friends for help.
But let’s talk about the coup that started it all. On August 30, 2023, a coup in Gabon overthrew Ali Bongo, son of Omar Bongo Ondimba, whom he succeeded to in 2009. (Omar Bongo died in 2009).

Omar Bongo and his son, Ali.

The irony of this is that Omar Bongo himself became president, after a coup he didn’t organize, in Feb 1964 but which helped him become president. Can you believe he was interviewed by the then president General Charles de Gaulle! Though the coup took place, the army was only able to hold power for only a few days. Let me tell you that story.

The first recorded coup in Gabon targeted the first president of the country, Leon M’ba, a guy who used to whip his cabinet members while they lay on the floor, in their underwear. This was his way of teaching them civic values. A guy who would stop on the roadside and whip people who didn’t greet him while in his car but probably, one of the most pathetic things he did, was to reject independence and opt instead to be a French province abroad. After France refused and told him he must accept, he proposed that Gabon should use the then French flag with the national tree on it. His proposal was denied therefore he conceded to.

Leon M’ba in 1961

Back to the coup, which was supposedly ignited by Hilaire Mbam, a guy who despite being more popular than Mba, failed to secure power as the first president, he was disliked by the French administration. M’ba wanted him out of the parliament so much that he decided to dissolve the parliament causing part of the army to revolt against his regime and politics and decide to seize power on the night of Feb 17 to 18 1964. The rest of the army was controlled by the French ‘technical advisers” still in place in Gabon. President M’ba was isolated in Lambarene.

France reacted by sending a whole group of mercenaries (mostly former soldiers in the French army) and from French army bases in Chad, Senegal and Central African Republic to join those already stationed in Gabon. The French’s quick reaction was not a surprise because a few months earlier (August 15 1963) in Congo Brazzaville, a coup had taken place during the presidency of Fulbert Youlou, (a revoked priest, who used to wear priest dresses made by luxury brands in Paris), and France could not intervene because they were not allowed to deploy an army in an independent country without a formal request from the president via the French ambassador to the country.

Fulbert Youlou, 1962

In the case of Gabon, M’ba was not in a position to sign a request, and his VP was not reachable. The coup died before it could sink in because once in the capital city, Libreville, the French army decided to end the rebellion. One French soldier recognized his former Gabonese classmate in the French military school (Saint Cyr) inside the presidential palace. He called him by his name and asked him to surrender, to which the Gabonese replied stating his refusal to humiliate his country. To this, the French soldier responded by shooting him. The coup ended shortly afterwards and M’ba was reinstated.

As with any failed coup, someone had to pay. Participants were jailed for life. Considered to be the coup instigator, Obam was sentenced to 10 years in jail with regular beating every day. M’ba continued his repression of the people despite his battle with cancer.

If you think France was done, think again. France requested the presidents of the former French colonies to provide it with blanket deployment requests, to cater for similar situations in the future.

Here comes the winner, Omar Bongo. France was worried that M’ba was too old and needed a successor. The young head of cabinet, not even 30 years old, was identified as a possible successor, due to his solid management of the coup. To vet him, he was sent to France for a job interview with President De Gaulle after which he was approved to succeed the dying president who was at the time in hospital in Paris. France then orchestrated a fake election, with a new constitution that had M’ba and Bongo on the presidential ticket. Bongo then became VP,

Omar Bongo and his mentor, Leon M’ba

And thanks to a quick last game from France most known adviser to many presidents in France, Jacques Foccart. Bongo then went on to become President and stayed in power for over 40 years.

Jacques Foccart

Ali Bongo is Omar Bongo’s son. Ali Bongo was in turn overthrown in August 2023, by a coup. He called the French in a video (https://youtu.be/pJyiz7nz6H4?feature=shared to come and help but this time, but France could not intervene, due to the very active international watch, and the many coups that happened in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the months just before Gabon.

After reading this, what in your opinion, made the difference between the military coup in 1964 and the one in 2023? I’m sure you figured it out.

Until the next take

Teju