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The multi-millionaire president of Gabon has been challenged by a disgruntled military after 55 years of rule in which income inequality has left nearly half the population in poverty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The coup attempt came hours after the central African country’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, was declared winner of an election marred by fears of violence. Within minutes of the announcement, gunfire was heard in the centre of the capital, Libreville.<\/p>\n
A dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television later the same morning and announced that they had seized power.<\/p>\n
Documents have revealed that Ali Bongo has more than two dozen luxury cars, some of which he enjoys joyriding in the desert, while his population struggles with poor food supplies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There have been eight coups since 2020 across the African continent – last month, the Niger military overthrew the democratically-elected Mohammed Bazoum – many of which have been former French colonies.<\/p>\n
READ MORE <\/strong> Wildlife officers snare poachers trafficking huge \u00a395K elephant ivory haul[REVEAL ] <\/strong><\/p>\n Bongo has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the family has long-standing ties to former colonial ruler France, dating to the four-decade presidency of his late father Omar Bongo, and these have come under legal scrutiny in recent years.<\/p>\n Preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption have been made against the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is part of a wider campaign of dissatisfaction with an affluent autocracy failing to trickle down its wealth to a population struggling with poverty.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> Four months after Ali assumed the presidency, a subsequently leaked document showed that his office had purchased 29 luxury vehicles valued at \u00a312.8 million via a Swiss company.\u00a0<\/p>\n The purchase included two Maybach 62S (worth \u00a3426,680 each), two Rolls Royce Phantoms (\u00a3371,453 each) and two Rolls Royce Ghosts (\u00a3227,994 each).<\/p>\n Four years later, Jean-Fidele Otandault, the head of Gabon’s public spending watchdog, said that \u201chalf of the [state\u2019s] budget had simply vanished\u201d when investigating the lack of funds in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n Government sources said the president liked to take the high-speed vehicles out for joyrides in the desert while his bodyguards followed in tow.<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n At a time when anti-French sentiment is spreading in many former colonies, the French-educated Bongo met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in late June and shared photos of them shaking hands. France has some 400 troops in the country.<\/p>\n But unlike in other former colonies, such as Niger, where the ostensible problem is Islamist terrorism, Gabon hasn\u2019t been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in January 2019, while Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, but they were quickly overpowered.<\/p>\n Soldiers on Wednesday said they intended to \u201cdissolve all institutions of the republic,\u201d according to a spokesman for the group, whose members were drawn from the gendarme, the republican guard and other elements of the security forces. The supposed stability, built on financial inequality, may be at an end.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/78\/590x\/secondary\/Mutinous-soldiers-in-Gabon-said-they-were-overturning-the-results-of-a-presidential-election-4934030.jpg?r=1693389688665\")
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Russian flags wave in Niger as anti-democratic military call for Wagner Group[REPORT] <\/strong>
Don\u2019t be fooled – Niger is Putin\u2019s African war on the West, says Stuart Crawford[OPINION] <\/strong>
Wagner Group invited into Niger as former NATO chief fears \u2018full-blown war'[REVEAL ] <\/strong><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/78\/590x\/secondary\/King-Charles-III-meets-the-President-of-Gabon-Ali-Bongo-Ondimba-at-Buckingham-Palace-4934028.jpg?r=1693389688724\")
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