Despite mounting pressure
\nGen. Brice Oligui Nguema vows not to repeat \u2018past mistakes\u2019 in next vote
\nLIBREVILLE
\nThe leader of a coup that this week overthrew Gabon\u2019s President Ali Bongo said on Friday that he wanted to avoid rushing into elections that \u201crepeat past mistakes,\u201d as pressure mounted on the junta to hand back power to a civilian government.
\nMilitary officers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema seized power on Wednesday, minutes after an announcement that Bongo had secured a third term in an election.
\nThe officers placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family\u2019s 56-year hold on power.
\nThe coup \u2014 West and Central Africa\u2019s eighth in three years \u2014 drew cheering crowds onto the streets of the capital Libreville, but condemnation from abroad and at home.
\nNguema said in a televised address on Friday evening that the junta would proceed \u201cquickly but surely\u201d but that it would avoid elections that \u201crepeat the same mistakes\u201d by keeping the same people in power.
\n\u201cGoing as quickly as possible does not mean organizing ad hoc elections, where we will end up with the same errors,\u201d he said.
\nCentral African regional bloc ECCAS has urged partners led by the United Nations and the African Union to support a rapid return to constitutional order, it said in a statement after an extraordinary meeting on Thursday. It said it would reconvene on Monday.
\nGabon\u2019s main opposition group, Alternance 2023, which says it is the rightful winner of Saturday\u2019s election, urged the international community on Friday to encourage the junta to hand power back to civilians.
\n\u201cWe were happy that Ali Bongo was overthrown but … we hope that the international community will stand up in favor of the Republic and the democratic order in Gabon by asking the military to give back the power to the civilians,\u201d Alexandra Pangha, spokesperson for Alternance 2023 leader Albert Ondo Ossa, told the BBC.
\nShe said that the junta\u2019s plan to inaugurate Nguema as head of state on Monday was \u201cabsurd.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite mounting pressure Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema vows not to repeat \u2018past mistakes\u2019 in next vote LIBREVILLE The leader of a coup that this week overthrew Gabon\u2019s President Ali Bongo said on Friday that he wanted to avoid rushing into elections that \u201crepeat past mistakes,\u201d as pressure mounted on the junta to hand back power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-353490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n