PUNCH
Gabon has on Saturday reopened its borders three days after a military coup.
An army spokesman made this known, three days after closing them during a military coup in which President Ali Bongo was ousted, according to Reuters.
Military officers led by General Brice Nguema seized power on Wednesday, placed Bongo under house arrest and installed Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family’s 56-year hold on power.
The coup – the eighth in West and Central Africa in three years – has raised concerns about a contagion of military takeovers across the region that have erased democratic progress made in the last two decades.
Coup leaders have come under international pressure to restore civilian government but said last night that they would not rush to hold elections.
The land, sea and air borders were opened because the junta was “concerned with preserving respect for the rule of law, good relations with our neighbors and all states of the world” and wanted to keep its “international commitments”, the army spokesman said on national television.
