Among West African countries that have experienced coups in recent years, Gabon offers a small sliver of hope.

In 2023, Brice Oligui Nguema, the former head of Gabon’s Republican Guard, took power in a bloodless coup. This coup was carried out just one day after aging President Ali Bongo was reelected in a contest that many within the country viewed as a fraudulent attempt by Bongo and his allies to perpetuate the nearly sixty-year political dynasty that began when his father took power in 1967.

While it would be easy to wrap this event in the same blanket as the many other West African military coups between 2020 and 2024 that disrupted an unprecedented period of peaceful civilian rule across the region, Gabon’s situation is different in several ways.

The military coups and their aft

See Full Page