Gabon’s military coup cannot be compared to the recent coup in Niger, according to EU Foreign Affairs Chief Josep Borrell. He wants to highlight that the Gabonese military intervened after an unfair presidential election.
”Military coups are obviously not the solution, but we must not forget that there was an election in Gabon that was full of irregularities,” says Borrell, who is in Toledo, Spain for a meeting with EU foreign ministers.
The ousted president, Ali Bongo, whose family has ruled Gabon for over 50 years, was declared the winner after dubious vote counting. No international observers monitored the election process.
Borrell argues that a rigged election could also be seen as a coup, a civilian ”institutional coup.”
