General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the former leader of the military junta that seized power last year, was officially sworn in as Gabon’s new president on May 3, 2025, marking a significant shift in the country’s volatile political scene.
Key Developments
Around twenty African heads of state attended the inauguration at a stadium just outside Libreville, where supporters donned Oligui-branded T-shirts and waved flags, filling the 40,000-seat venue. Notable attendees included Gambian President Adama Barrow, Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh, and Equatorial Guinea’s long-ruling leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
The event came after a nine-month transitional period following the August 30, 2023 coup, which ended the 55-year reign of the Bongo family. Former President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who had been in power since 2009 after succeeding his father Omar Bongo (1967–2009), was removed by mutinous soldiers just after the controversial announcement of his third-term electoral victory.
The Bongo family’s decades-long rule had made Gabon an example of “autocratic stability” in Central Africa, fueled by oil wealth but plagued by corruption and elite control over resources. Ali Bongo’s 2018 stroke and subsequent health problems had already weakened his power before the coup. The presence of leaders such as Obiang, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1979, subtly legitimized military transitions among long-standing African leaders.
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