The European Union [EU] rejects the use of force to seize power in Gabon and calls on all sides to exercise caution, said the EU’s foreign policy leader, Josep Borrell, in a statement on Thursday.
On Wednesday, a military junta declared that it had seized control and placed President Ali Bongo under house arrest, while invalidating election results that would have given Bongo a third term. Since 2020, this is the seventh military coup in West and Central Africa.
“The challenges facing Gabon must be resolved in accordance with the principles of the rule of law, constitutional order and democracy,” the EU’s Borrell said. “The country’s peace and prosperity, as well as regional stability, depend on it.”
He went on to say that the EU shares “serious concerns” about how the presidential election that preceded the coup was organized and conducted.
Earlier in the day, during a meeting of the EU’s foreign ministers in Spain, Borrell told reporters that the Gabonese election had been “plagued by irregularities.”
“There are military coups and institutional coups, where you don’t need to take up arms, but if I rig an election to seize power, that is also an irregular way to do it,” he added.
