There was a coup d'état in Gabon.
Just yesterday, mutinous soldiers claimed to have seized power and put the president under house arrest.
01 This sudden news made everyone feel very incredible, how could there be a coup d'état.
The president under house arrest is Ali Bongo, the 64-year-old above, who served as Gabon's defense minister and other positions, was elected president of Gabon in 2009, re-elected in 2016, and successfully re-elected in 2023.
What's so incredible about the coup?
Because this Bongo, just a few hours before the coup and house arrest, had just won the election to be re-elected president.
Unfortunately, before he woke up from his dreams, he was locked up.
He said with a confused look, I didn't even know what was going on, so I was arrested.
According to the mutineer soldiers, the family of the newly elected president has ruled Gabon for 55 years.
Are all 64-year-old people, presumably there must be many children and grandchildren around the world, do not go home to raise every day, but also ride the wind and waves in the political vortex, do you think that you are really the horse in "Rakshasa Sea City"?
Speaking of which, I am reminded of what Musk said, if people do not die, we will be bound by old ideas, and society will not progress.
It just so happened that yesterday, Wang Shi, the former head of Vanke, once again said something amazing since the barbarian at the door, saying that it is not good for the next generation that people live too long, and people should not be too greedy.
It seems that the views of the big guys are similar, and it is not necessarily a good thing to live for a long time, in case you are under house arrest.
But some people can't figure out such a simple truth, such as President Bongo.
And, of course, the sleepy Joe Biden of the United States and the Pu the Great of Russia.
02The drama of this mutiny is even more incredible.
Generally speaking, this kind of military coup does not suffer hundreds or thousands of casualties, which is not in line with the convention and the script. For example, the coup d'état in nearby Niger has killed many, many people, and it can be said that blood has flowed like rivers.
Since Gabon returned to a multiparty system in 1990, every vote held in Gabon has ended in violence. Clashes between government forces and protesters after the 2016 election left four people dead, according to official figures, and the opposition says the death toll is much higher.
But within minutes of the announcement of the coup, in the center of Libreville, the capital of Gabon, only gunshots were heard, no bloodshed and no clashes, according to media reports.
Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television to announce that they had seized power.
That's it?
Haha, that's it.
03 There was a military coup in the country, shouldn't the people be frightened and fleeing everywhere? But the reaction of the Gabonese masses was even more incredible.
After his first public appearance, President Bongo called on people to "make noise" to support him.
Look at the comparison between after being placed under house arrest and before house arrest, from the rich to the sloppy in the palace, he sat in a chair and begged the crowd to support him.
But the crowd instead took to the streets of the capital, ignoring the armored police and army on both sides, singing the national anthem and chanting "Long live our army".
This is clearly celebrating the end of Bongo's rule.
There were even crowds in front of the soldiers of the Gabonese elite Republican Guard, proudly saying "Thank you, army, we have been waiting for this moment for a long time".
Others offered juice to the renegade soldiers, but they refused.
The people of Gabon are indeed skinned.
This shows that Bongo's rule is really unpopular, and the military and people are united to oppose him.
04 Let's talk about the reasons for the coup, which is even more incredible.
As mentioned earlier, this Bongo is 64 years old, and in fact his family has ruled Gabon for 55 years.
For years, there has been widespread discontent with the Bongo family, and the coup attempt is not surprising.
Bongo's father, Bongo Sr., ruled Gabon for 41 years, and this Bongo ruled Gabon for another 14 years.
A family that rules a country for more than 50 years and does not do good deeds, and the common people are kind enough not to rebel.
What is even more unacceptable to the Gabonese people is that this presidential election is very suspicious, the voting is not transparent, and it is actually held behind closed doors.
This kind of thing is very bad in nature, even in the lighthouse country, just suspected and accused of interfering in the presidential election, it is necessary to turn himself in to prison and take a handsome photo by the way.
If this happens in the Middle East, generally speaking, the president will be tortured to death, such as Gaddafika Dazo, the tragic image is really scary, let alone turn himself in and take selfies.
And this time it was just house arrest, and Gabon's coup leader was really a good one.
05 One more thing, Gabon is the most incredible place in this country.
Where is Gabon, the big guys must have read a lot of news and learned something.
In the armpit of Central Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean, directly above the picture, will not repeat it.
Don't underestimate Gabon, which is one of the world's most medium-sized developed countries.
In poor Africa, I really didn't expect that there would be a moderately developed country.
Do you know why?
Because there is a mine at home, this reason is enough to make everyone here embarrassed.
Gabon, a member of the OPEC oil cartel, produces about 181,000 barrels of crude oil a day, a country that sits on a mountain of gold and would have been as rich as Saudi Arabia. But according to the World Bank, Gabon's unemployment rate has reached 15 percent in 40 years, and the country faces high unemployment and rising prices, making it difficult for many citizens to feed their families.
Why?
Just because Bongo's family monopolized the country's resource wealth and put all the tickets in their pockets. According to French media reports, several members of the Bongo family are under investigation in France, some of whom have been preliminarily accused of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption.
Bongo's rule is truly unpopular.
06 just said that Bongo's family members are under investigation in France, which is another incredible.
If something happens in my own country, do I need to go to another country to be investigated?
Need. In addition to the 2 trillion Boss Xu, Gabon can also do this kind of thing.
Here, France and Africa are inextricably linked.
In history, France has a very glorious colonial history, and of course, it is also the history of blood and tears of the colonized countries.
Between the 19th and early 20th centuries, France was the second largest colonial empire after the British Empire. At its peak from 1919 to 1939, the colony covered 12,347,000 square kilometers. Including mainland France, it reaches 12.898 million square kilometers, or 8.6% of the world's total land area.
Be amazed!
You know why France is called the Gallic Rooster, and it is still a member of the P5.
After the colonial independence movement, France only retained more than 100 islands in the North Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, South Pacific and North Pacific Ocean, and French Guiana in South America, with a total area of only 123,150 square kilometers, only 1% of the colonies it owned in 1939.
So it became a down-and-out boiled Gallic chicken.
Despite its downfall, France's influence in Africa is strong.
If you look at this picture, you can see that what I am saying is true.
After the coup in Gabon, several French companies said they were suspending operations and taking action to ensure the safety of their employees, that all operations at Gabon's main port of Libreville had been halted, and that Gabon had suspended routes for aircraft and ships.
Since the coup d'état in Niger, the situation in Africa has been turbulent, and France has little foothold in Africa, plus this coup in Gabon.
The French are really in a hurry.
Successive coups have challenged the French government's stealth colonial rule in these regions, counting the coups in Gabon, bringing the number of coups in West and Central Africa to eight since 2020.
The Bongo family has entrenched and exploited Gabon for more than 50 years with the support of France, and in late June this year, Macron met Bongo in Paris, their hands clasped tightly together, their eyes revealing determination.
The fall of the Bongo family left France without another country under control.
I don't know how Macron feels sitting in the palatial Elysee Palace.
This article was first published on the "Next Door to the Earth" WeChat public account.