Gabon military coup: army annuls election results and seizes power as President Ali Bongo placed under arrest

Military officers in Gabon have seized power of the country after annulling the recent election results which President Ali Bongo won in controversial circumstances.

Bongo, 64, has been placed under house arrest by the group, which seized power of the country on Wednesday 30 August. Almost a dozen officers naming themselves 'The Committee of Transition and the Restoration of Institutions' announced the move on television channel Gabon24, with members of the country's police force, republican guard and other security forces.

In a statement, those involved with the group's coup said: “Today the country is undergoing a severe institutional, political, economic, and social crisis. In the name of the Gabonese people … we have decided to defend the peace by putting an end to the current regime.”

The election results saw President Bongo, whose family has been in power for more than 55 years, won a third term in office with 64% of the vote. However opposition politicians claimed that the result of the election, held on 26 August, was fraudulent.

Upon declaring the election result void, officers involved in the coup also closed the borders and dissolved state institutions. Supporters gathered in the streets of capital Libreville to celebrate Bongo's removal from office, while there were also unconfirmed reports of gunfire in the city

Bongo has since appeared on video pleading with his "friends all over the world" to "make noise" about the situation in Gabon, notably speaking in English as opposed to the Gabonese official language French. In the video, he said: "My son is somewhere, my wife is in another place. Nothing is happening. I don't know what is going on."

It comes amid a series of notable coups in Africa in the past few years. Only last month, military officers seized power in Niger. Coups have also taken place in Chad, Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

Élisabeth Borne, Prime Minister of France, the former colonial ruler of Gabon, said that the country was monitoring the situation "with the greatest attention".