00:00 Army officers in Gabon have announced they were seizing power of the country and have
00:04 President Ali Bongo under house arrest.
00:07 The military claim they are cancelling the results of Saturday's presidential elections
00:10 which saw Bongo win 64% of the vote.
00:14 But the opposition claim the election was fraudulent.
00:16 There have been other concerns about the election, including the suspension of some foreign broadcasts,
00:21 internet services and the imposing of a nationwide night time curfew after the poll.
00:26 The results were announced on Wednesday and shortly after, uniformed soldiers appeared
00:30 on national television to announce they had seized power and would close the country's
00:35 borders.
00:36 Mr Bongo's overthrow would end his family's 53-year hold on power in Gabon and prevent
00:41 his third consecutive term in office.
00:44 Crowds gathered to celebrate the coup in some streets of the Central African country.
00:49 The coup comes just a month after soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically
00:53 elected government.
00:55 It becomes the latest in a series of eight coups involving former French colonies in
01:00 the past three years.
01:02 Prior to this, Gabon had been seen as relatively stable and undisrupted by jihadi militancy,
01:08 unlike some of its neighbours.
01:09 But violence has broken out in the country after every vote since 1990.
01:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]
