The government of Gabon has declared that it was in control after an attempted coup by army rebels on Monday and that it had arrested most of those involved.
“Calm has returned, the situation is under control,” government spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou told AFP.
Only hours earlier, soldiers burst into the national radio station and called on the people to “rise up,” an apparent bid to oust ailing President Ali Bongo, who is out of the country. Of the five who did this, according to Mapangou, “four have been arrested and one is on the run.”
Meanwhile, the African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat “strongly condemned” the attempted coup by the rebel soldiers.
“The African Union strongly condemns the coup attempt this morning in Gabon. I reaffirm the AU’s total rejection of all unconstitutional change of power,” he wrote on Twitter.