Soldiers in Gabon say they've seized power and detained a president whose family ruled for 55 years
Mutinous soldiers are claiming that they have seized power in Gabon and have put the president under house arrest, hours after he was declared the winner in an election extending his family’s 55-year rule in the oil-rich Central African nation LIBREVILLE, Gabon -- Mutinous soldiers claimed to have seized power in Gabon on Wednesday and put the president under house arrest, hours after he was declared the winner in an election extending his family’s 55-year rule in the oil-rich Central African nation. In a video apparently from detention in his residence, President Ali Bongo Ondimba called on people to “make noise” to support him. But the crowds who took to the streets of the capital instead celebrated the coup attempt against a dynasty accused of getting rich on the country’s resource wealth while many of its citizens struggle. “Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Yollande Okomo, standing near soldiers from Gabon’s elite republican guard, one...