LIBREVILLE, Gabon ¨C Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday and had put President Ali Bongo under house arrest, stepping in minutes after the Central African state¡¯s election body announced he had won a third term.
The officers who said they represented the armed forces declared on television that the election results were canceled, borders were closed and state institutions were dissolved, after a tense vote without international observers that was set to extend the Bongo family¡¯s more than half century in power.
Hundreds of people celebrated the military¡¯s intervention, while France, Gabon¡¯s former colonial ruler which has troops stationed in the African nation, condemned the coup.
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