The African Union‘s Peace and Security Council announced on Thursday that it had chosen to “immediately suspend” Gabon following this week’s military coup.
The organisation conveyed on X, formerly Twitter, its “strong condemnation of the military takeover of power in the Republic of Gabon, which deposed President Ali Bongo on 30 August 2023.”
The council “resolves to promptly suspend Gabon’s involvement in all activities of the AU, its organs, and institutions until the restoration of constitutional order in the nation.”
This declaration followed a council meeting addressing the situation in Gabon after the coup that occurred on Wednesday, subsequent to contested elections in which Bongo was declared the victor.
The meeting was led by Bankole Adeoye, the AU commissioner for political affairs from Nigeria, and the present holder of the council’s rotational chair, Willy Nyamitwe of Burundi.
On Wednesday, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the head of the African Union Commission, urged the Gabonese army and security forces “to ensure the physical well-being” of Bongo, who, according to coup leaders, had been placed under house arrest.
Faki also denounced the coup and characterised the events in Gabon as a “blatant breach” of the legal and political frameworks of the African Union based in Addis Ababa.
“(Faki) urges all political, civil, and military figures in Gabon to support peaceful political avenues that lead to a swift return to democratic constitutional order in the nation,” he mentioned on X.
Earlier in the current month, the African Union took comparable action by suspending Niger following a coup in the West African country in July, which ousted elected president Mohamed Bazoum.