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Officers from the Gabonese 🇬🇦 Armed Forces have appointed the chief of the Republican Guard, General Brice Oligui Nguema, as the Central African country’s new ruler following the ouster of President Ali Bongo. Nguema was chosen to lead the former French colony’s transition council. The overthrown president had been placed under house arrest, while his son N. B. Valentin, as well as certain gov’t officials, had been arrested for “high treason.” The military takeover follows August 26th’s presidential election which was rigged for the now former President Ali Bongo winning with % of the vote. When counting of the votes was almost completed, the then Bongo led gov’t cut off the country’s internet and put a curfew in place citing the risk of violence. Gabon 🇬🇦 is the world’s second-biggest manganese producer after South Africa, and Comilog (a subsidiary of French owned Eramet) extracts 90% of Gabon’s manganese . Another subsidiary of the French 🇫🇷 controlled Eramet is Setrag, which operates the Trans-Gabon Railway, the country’s only railway, where the manganese and other raw materials (oil, wood, uranium) are exported out of the country. The TotalEnergies EP Gabon subsidiary is % owned by France’s 🇫🇷 TotalEnergies SE, 25% by the Gabonese Republic and % by the public. It’s Q2 2023 oil production was 15,700 bpd with revenues amounting to $107 million for the quarter. Perenco, headquartered in London & Paris, extracts 65,000 bpd of oil and 680,000m3 of gas per day in Gabon. The UN 🇺🇳 Secretary General A. Guterres, the US 🇺🇸, Canada 🇨🇦, UK 🇬🇧 and France 🇫🇷 have all condemned the coup, calling for a return to “democratic, civilian-led governance“. The EU 🇪🇺 calls for restraint from all parties in Gabon. The African Union’s Peace and Security Council decided to “immediately suspend” Gabon from its activities. The West controlled ECOWAS bloc has also condemned the coup. France has 400 troops based in Gabon. Источник: The Paradigm Shift Channel ⏳
