Why the leader of the coup Brais Kloter

After more than 19 months with a little non -bloody coup that put an end to more than five decades of rule by the Bongo family, the Gabon people are about to go to the polls to choose a new head of the state – he wanders in the direction that the military leaders witnessed elsewhere in Africa to adhere to power.

Favorite in the race on Saturday is the man who led this peaceful thing and has dominated the political scene since then, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguea.

After he abandoned the tiredness of his soldiers and the military status in favor of the political suit, this former direct commander of the Republican goalkeeper faces seven other candidates.

Popular saturation among the population who feels comfortable to get rid of family rule – and to help electoral lists that are not qualified for some of the main competitors – it seems that the 50 -year -old is almost confirmed to secure an explicit majority in the first ballot.

His campaign logo – using the first letters of “C’Bon” – is a play on the French words “C’est Bon”, which means “it’s good.”

His chances to avoid the second round of the second round are strengthened by the fact that his main rival-one of the leading political figures or civil society does not gather on his case-he is the last prime minister in the old system, ALAIN-CLUDE BELIE -By-Nze, known as his first letters Acbbn.

Victory will bring a seven -year mandate and resources to implement development and modernize reform at a pace that its rulers from African countries have not been able to crises.

With only 2.5 million people, Gabon is a firm oil product and the second largest source of magnesis in the world.

Its lands, which sit on the equator, include some of the most biological spaces in the rainforest in the Congo basin.

Contrary to a harsh campaign after the elections in the capital, Libeville, in 2016, the country has a calm modern history that often contradicts the conflicts and instability that has been afflicted with many regional neighbors.

Olgoy did not meet with the Republican star and guards with resistance when they seized power on August 30, 2023, just hours after the electoral authorities were transferred to the ether waves in the middle of the night to announce that the current president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, got a third period of seven years with 64 % of the vote.

It was difficult to see this official result as credible. Ali Bongo, who succeeded his father Omar in 2009, only rose a narrow victory and a lot in the previous survey, in 2016.

When a stroke was suffered during his visit to Saudi Arabia after two years and began to gradually recover, there was wide sympathy.

However, the mood turned after he decided to stand for a third period, despite his weak health condition-and this is a widespread discontent with the supposed effect of the direction and the aspirations of his wife born in French Silvia and his son Norderrin Bongo Valentine.

The peaceful army intervened to prevent the continuation of the regime, and arrested Silvia and Norridin and Ali was restricted to forced retirement in private villasThe automatic celebrations between many Gabonese who are tired of this unwilling family apparently sparked.

The coup was received with relief even by most of the administrative and political elite and civil society.

Oligui Noguea seized a shrewd feature, continuing to build a wide base of support for its transitional system. Previous government figures have brought in critical civil society in the structure of power or institutions such as the Senate appointed.

Political detainees were released, although her wife and son Ali Bongo are still awaiting trial on charges of corruption.

He did not resort to this type of campaign on opposition or media freedom that has become a routine tool for other military leaders in African African, in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger.

On the diplomatic front, in a significant contradiction with the anti -Western position of the regimes in West Africa, Alegoy Nguima organized large figures to grow international goodwill and reassured the traditional Gabon partners by determining it to restore the civil constitutional government in a very limited time frame.

Relations with France, former colonial power and a close ally of the Bongo regime, warm.

The two governments recently agreed to convert the Digol camp, the long French base in Gabon, into a new training center that they will joinly operate.

After showing a popular and political touch, Oligui Nguema responded to the general hunger of change, with public works and late projects accelerated.

At the time of increased popular support throughout the Francophone Africa to obtain a more assertive defense of national interests, his government captured the Gabonese assets of many foreign oil companies, including Tolo in the United Kingdom.

To reduce the restrictions imposed on government financial affairs, he borrowed in the regional money market, but also sought to reassure international partners.

A lot of $ 520 million (461 million pounds) that was collected via Eurobond was used in February to pay the old debts, and the government has also allocated funds to clarify some of the arrears due to the World Bank.

But if it is certain that he is elected as the head of state Gabon on Saturday, Oligui Noguea will face great challenges.

This was the audience’s hunger for the change that, in many ways, the transition was the easy part. There was little general pressure restricting his freedom to maneuver.

There was a wide consensus on the merging of a ban on the caliphate of the family into the new constitution.

When Oligui Nguema cleaned the concern of some parliamentarians about the concentration of the executive authority in the presidency by canceling the position of Prime Minister, there was no slight stir.

But this means that, move forward, the full weight of responsibility for meeting general expectations will fall on his shoulders alone.

Political and civilian figures, such as the veteran opponent Alexander Barrow-Kambirir and Holder rain forests Mark to eatJoin his transitional management or political machine, and Rassamplement des bâtisseurs (RDB), and can play important roles after the elections.

However, the focus will be on Oligui Noguea itself. He will face complex challenges.

Gabon has always placed herself as a leader in preserving rainforests and its various various animals, attracting international praise for its smart use of climate financing tools-in 2023 it became the first sub-Saharan country to complete the debt swap.

But this strategic approach must be reconciled with the economic pressure to take full advantage of other natural resources, especially minerals and oil, and to meet the needs of rural societies that seek to protect fishing and agriculture rights.

Urban population, especially in Libreville – a home of nearly half of the country’s population – needs more jobs and best services, in a country the social development record was disappointing, given its relative richness.

Union Jean Remy Yama, who is excluded from the presidential race because he could not produce his father’s birth certificate, and is a requirement for filtering, is one of the followers who can give a voice to popular frustrations.

For Oligui Noguea, the most difficult work is about to start.

Paul Melly is a consultant for the Africa program in Chatham House in London.