The Emperor’s New Clothes: Coup Leader Ahead in Gabon’s Elections
NEED TO KNOW
The Emperor’s New Clothes: Coup Leader Ahead in Gabon’s Elections
GABON
In August 2023, Gabon’s rulers were deposed in a coup. But unlike other countries in West Africa that have experienced coups, many voters hailed the change. After all, the Bongo family that presided over the country for 56 years were rapacious, brutal, and widely despised.
“I am joyful,” Jules Lebigui, an unemployed young man in the capital Libreville, told Reuters soon after the coup. “After almost 60 years, the Bongos are out.”
After the coup, the first in Gabon, its leader Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema and the ruling junta formed the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, dissolved the constitution and all state institutions, and set about building new ones they pledged would establish democracy in the country. Soon after, he became interim president and oversaw the implementation of a new constitution, which was approved by a referendum in 2024, and a new electoral law in January.
Nguema won plaudits for freeing political prisoners detained by Ali Bongo, the former president, allowing exiles to return home and launching an anti-graft drive that targeted the Bongo clan and other elites.
And to build support for this transition, he also allowed some members of Bongo’s regime to participate in his government along with opposition figures: For example, he allowed Marie-Madeleine Mborantsuo to return as president of the country’s top constitutional court, noted Africanews.
The transitional government also introduced free school tuition, repaired more than 370 miles of roads, and launched youth work programs to tackle an unemployment rate of almost 40 percent among those under 35.
He vowed to return the country to civilian rule sooner rather than later and initially set elections for August 2025 before moving them up by four months.
The interim president did, more or less, what he said he would do, to the widespread approval of the public, observers said. And now, ending months of speculation over whether he would run, he’s the front-runner in presidential elections set for April 12.
“Gabon is experiencing a historic moment,” Apoli Bertrand Kameni of the University of Freiburg in Germany told Deutsche Welle. “Things will follow the course (set) by the new authorities because for many of the Gabonese, the military has produced more achievements in one year than the old regime (did in decades).”
Still, in spite of Nguema – a member of the Bongo clan himself – ushering in numerous changes, it’s not quite the fresh start that many in the country had hoped for, say analysts.
“In other words, far from being a revolution to overthrow the old order, the ouster of Ali Bongo was a palace coup, and all that has followed it essentially amounted to ostensibly reshuffling an intricately stacked deck,” wrote World Politics Review. “But that in turn underscores the fact that Oligui does not embody the clean break with the past that he has long claimed to represent and which many Gabonese yearn for.”
For example, some believe the changes strengthen the presidency to a dangerous extent. Others say term limits are necessary to prevent another multi-decade dynasty. And in spite of the enthusiasm of the country’s new rulers to hold elections, some members of the opposition say the new constitution and electoral code favor the junta’s candidate.
Analysts agree. Despite the unlevel playing field, 22 opposition leaders submitted their candidacies to the Ministry of Interior, which is now in charge of elections, but only seven were accepted, according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Opposition candidates with the most name recognition, like Albert Ossa and Pierre Moussavou, for example, were barred from running due to an age limit that was written into the new electoral code. Others were prohibited from running due to inadequate parental citizenship and marriage certificate documentation.
“Oligui has followed a carefully choreographed sequence of actions to pave an unobstructed pathway to claim the presidency,” the think tank wrote. “Given the legacy of vote rigging in Gabon and the tightly structured post-coup transition, prospects of a free and fair process are dim.”
Economically, things have not changed much either. Gabon is the third richest country in Africa as measured by GDP per capita, according to the World Bank. Even so, about one-third of Gabon’s 2.5 million people live in poverty.
The country is also still far too dependent on oil in spite of attempts to diversify its economy. Its unemployment is high as its public debt, expected to exceed 80 percent of GDP this year.
Regardless, Oligui is expected to win the election. And he’ll likely get the benefit of the doubt from the public – for a while, say analysts.
“The positive thing is that since we went through a military coup, I want to believe that most of the population of Gabon wants a better democracy,” Herbert Mba Aki of the Omar Bongo University in Libreville, told OkayAfrica. “I want to believe that these new rules (set by the new constitution) will be respected and not be used for political purposes or for personal purposes.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
The Ties That Bind: Estonia Approves Law Banning Orthodox Church Ties with Russia
ESTONIA
Estonia’s parliament passed a law this week requiring the country’s Christian Orthodox Church to sever ties with its pro-Kremlin leadership in Russia in an attempt to curb Russian influence and safeguard national security amid ongoing tensions over the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
The measure – an amendment to the Churches and Congregations Act – will give Orthodox churches and monasteries two months to comply with the new requirements or face possible closure.
The bill bars foreign-controlled religious groups from operating in Estonia if their parent organizations support military aggression, incite violence, or pose a threat to Estonia’s constitutional order.
It also bans individuals who are not permitted to reside in Estonia from serving as ministers or board members of religious organizations.
The legislation marks a major step by the Estonian government against the church due to its links to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, who has supported Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war.”
Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro noted that the move follows years of failed efforts to reach a compromise with church leaders, including the Moscow-subordinate Pühtitsa Convent, according to Estonia’s public broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling.
Even so, the church says the law infringes on religious freedom.
A member of NATO and the European Union, Estonia has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since the 2022 invasion by Russia. Ukraine approved similar legislation last year banning institutions linked to the Russian Orthodox church.
Meanwhile, Estonian lawmakers also passed a separate law Wednesday that would strip Russian citizens living in Estonia of the right to vote in local elections.
The recent laws could increase tensions with neighboring Russia: Roughly a quarter of Estonia’s 1.3 million people are ethnic Russians, many of whom are Orthodox Christians.
Zimbabwe Begins Paying White Farmers For Seized Land
ZIMBABWE
Zimbabwe’s government began paying compensation to White farmers who saw their land seized under a controversial government program in the early 2000s, the BBC wrote.
This payment is the first installment of a 2020 compensation agreement signed by the state and local White farmers, which will see Zimbabwe pay a total of $3.5 billion in compensation.
The payments will cover 378 farms out of the 740 deemed eligible for compensation. Only one percent of the total $311 million assigned for the first round of payments will be paid to farmers in cash, and the rest will be paid through US-dollar-denominated Treasury bonds.
Now that the payments have started, more farmers have shown an interest in receiving compensation, even if the majority have yet to accept the deal and continue to retain their ownership deeds.
Part of the reluctance of some farmers to accept the deal are the terms: The government has agreed to only compensate former farm owners for “improvements” made on the land – such as buildings or wells – while refusing to pay for the land itself, arguing it was unjustly seized by colonialists. It is prioritizing compensation for foreign investors with farms protected by bilateral investment agreements.
When Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 and shook off White minority rule, most of the country’s farming land was in the hands of about 4,000 White farmers. Land reform starting in 2000 aimed at restitution, mainly undoing colonial-era landgrabs from Black farmers, according to the Associated Press.
Since then, thousands of White farmers were pushed off their land by government forces and vigilantes, often violently, in an attempt to rectify colonial-era land seizures. However, the program spooked Western investors and strained relations with the West.
As a result of the program, Zimbabwe has been frozen out of the global financial system for over two decades, leaving the southern African country with a tanking economy and a massive foreign debt.
Analysts see the compensation plan positively, saying it could be effective in repairing relationships with the West and averting international court judgments.
New Zealand Parliament Rejects Bill Seeking To Redefine Country’s Founding Treaty
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand’s parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected a controversial bill that sought to redefine the principles of the country’s founding Treaty of Waitangi, ending months of public unrest and igniting scenes of celebration in the chamber as lawmakers sang traditional Māori songs across party lines, CNN reported.
The Treaty Principles Bill was voted down 112 to 11 after advancing to the select committee stage despite widespread opposition.
The draft was introduced by ACT Party leader David Seymour, a junior partner in the right-wing governing coalition led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Though Luxon and his National Party never supported the legislation beyond the committee stage, they agreed to its introduction as part of a post-election coalition deal with ACT.
The bill proposed a fixed interpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, which governs the relationship between the British Crown and Māori tribes. Although the English and Māori versions differ, the treaty guarantees Māori rights to land, resources, and cultural autonomy – rights that courts have progressively defined and expanded over decades.
Seymour, who is Māori himself, said the proposed legislation would establish equal rights for all New Zealanders and remove what he described as race-based privileges.
But critics across the political spectrum said it would erode legal protections for the Indigenous community and ignore the treaty’s historical context and evolving jurisprudence, the Associated Press noted.
Tens of thousands of people – mainly from the Māori community – have marched in protest across the country in recent months. New Zealand’s parliament also received more than 300,000 written submissions on the bill – a national record – with about 90 percent opposing it.
The opposition Labour leader and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins condemned it as a “grubby little bill, born of a grubby little deal.” Other lawmakers described it as “a right-wing obscenity masquerading as equality.”
Despite the setback, Seymour vowed to continue his efforts, with observers noting that other elements of the coalition agreement targeting the treaty’s presence in New Zealand law remain in effect.
DISCOVERIES
An Angkor Puzzle – Solved
For almost a century, the National Museum of Cambodia displayed the head of a Buddha statue without its body.
Now, archeologists working at Cambodia’s centuries-old Angkor complex say they have found a match.
Just 160 feet from where the head was found in 1927, they found a well-preserved torso of a statue of Buddha, and an optical-electronic scan confirmed it’s a match for the previously found head, explained the Associated Press.
The torso was found along with 29 fragments that are likely part of the same statue.
“It was a big surprise when we unearthed this sculpture because all we’d found so far were small pieces,” archeologist Neth Simon, one of the leaders of the dig, told the newswire.
The torso, probably dating to the 12th or 13th century, was found at the Ta Prohm temple, part of the Angkor complex that was once part of the capital of the Khmer (Cambodian) Empire between the ninth and 15th centuries, wrote Smithsonian Magazine.
Ta Prohm, along with the head and newly found torso, is an example of the Bayon art style, typical of the 12th and 13th centuries when Buddhism was the official state religion of the Khmer Empire.
The headless statue is nearly four feet tall, with a shoulder width of almost two feet, and adorned in jewelry. It sports a robe and a veil, with its left hand across its chest, which Simon said is an uncommon gesture in Khmer art.
Meanwhile, the digital scan also confirmed a match for the feet, found by the team nearby.
Now, the only missing part of the statue is the right hand.
The next step for the archeologists is to complete the reconstruction. The team is appealing to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art to be allowed to reattach these newly found pieces, which have been apart for almost a century, and display them in the National Museum.
“As an archeologist,” said Simon, “I would be really happy.”
Editor’s Note: While publishing our item on Thursday on Lesotho, we encountered some issues with our system. As a result, some of our readers did not receive the latest news on Lesotho and new tariffs announced by the United States. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced a pause on most tariffs for 90 days. It remains unclear to date if the pause impacts Lesotho and whether its new tariff rate will be reduced.