Celebrate. Within minutes of winning a third term, army announced they were taking over. Bongo has been president since 2009, succeeding his father was in power since 1967. General Brice Oligui Nguema takes over as traditional leader, the army saying it wants to bring stability. The president of the transition insists on the need to maintain calm and stability in our beautiful country. He pledges to preserve the economic tools that guarantee social prosperity and the dawn of a new era. We will guarantee that piece, stability, and dignity of our beloved gabon. Mohammed president bongo is under house arrest. In an online message he pleaded for support. I do not know what is going on. So i am calling you to make noise, to make noise, to make noise. Im thanking you. Thank you. Mohammed we will explore more with our guests in a moment, but first, our correspondent has more from senegals capital. Reporter there is Popular Support for this coup because people had been expecting and waiting for the downfall of the bongo Family Dynasty that have been at the home of this country for over 55 years. What comes as a surprise is the man behind this coup, Brice Oligui Nguema, who is the head of the president ial guard meant to protect the interest of the bongo family. He was in fact a close aide to omar bongo, the father of ali bongo. In 2009 when ali bongo came to power he was sidelined, sent to senegal and morocco. During that time the young colonel amassed quite a lot of melt of wealth. Now hes distancing himself from the bongo family, arresting his son, accusing them of treason, of abusing power, of corruption, and of stealing from state coffers from this oilrich nation in which most people live on less than 2 a day. So, distancing himself, but also appeasing foreign interests. The french and the chinese, who have vested interest in the oil business and the mineral business. We havent heard from the opposition, who has been the political opponent to ali bongo during saturdays president ial election. Also muted reaction from the regional countries, from Equatorial Guinea and cameroon. Not a surprise, because they probably fear contagion of coups. Hes been in power since 1982 and 1979. But this coup is a break from the past and a hope this can rebuild trust in the Democratic Institutions in gabon. Mohammed africa is no stranger to military coups. Out of at least 242 successful takeovers worldwide since 1950, 106 have been on the continent. The latest in gabon is the eighth coup in africa in just three years. Most of the others have been further north. Gabon is on the west coast of central africa. Half the population of nearly 2. 5 million are under 20. Its rich i natural resourcesn, and is a member of opec. Despite its abundant natural wealth, more than one third of its population live in poverty. Around 90 of gabon is covered in forest and most of its population live in cities. Lets go ahead and bring in our guests. In the capital of gabon is antoine lawson, a writer and journalist who has reported on africa and gabon for more than three decades. In tanzania is stella agara, an analyst on african government affairs. And in nigerias capital is lassane ouedraogo, Research Fellow at the center for democracy and develop, focusing on governance in west africa. A warm welcome to you and thank you so much for joining us. Antoine, there was jubilation across gabon after news of the coup. You are there. Where do things stand now . Antoine yes. The situation is very calm after the coup. The new commanderinchief of the coup is now president since yesterday. Everything is very quiet today. Business has opened this morning. They have asked the population to continue to do what they have to do every day. So what is new today is that the former minister tried to speak to the group of military officers today and to ask them i f it was a good idea to interrupt the electoral process. And they asked them how long they are going to stay in power before so the citizenship is still confused. In response of the coup, the military says [indiscernible] the military does not know how to lead the country. Mohammed lassane, after the coup we heard condemnation from u. N. , france, the u. S. , African Leaders, russia, china, and the eu. What does it mean that there is such Rare International consensus on this issue within todays very polarized world . Lassane absolutely. I feel like the International Community is cought in the coup, whereby in principle they have to condemn the coup, but at the same time it is kind of like, ok, we understand what is going on here. Thats almost as if the coup is coming to relieve people from a situation whereby ali bongo is to win the election in a very, very controversial manner. We do not know what could have come out of that election either in terms of postelection violence. But the coup stepped in to actually set things back to zero, basically. Mohammed stella, general nguema , who was named as a transitional leader, he was head of the president ial guard that had pledged to protect president bongo. He is also related to the deposed leader. The fact that such a close aide to president bongo has now been appointed to lead the transition, what message does that and part to those inside and outside the country . Stella thank you very much. There are a number of things we need to consider about that employment that appointment. One is the possibility that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That will depend on whether nguema is truly committed to change. Sometimes you can find family members but if its an alignment, it means this will be a coup in vain. The other thing that it says is theres a possibility the negotiations happening may impact the desired change in different ways. For the locals, one of the things they must do now is manage expectations, to stop celebrating and find a way to communicate their interests and communicate the demands they had for this change if this is what they desired as evidenced are the celebrations we have seen amongst them. But for four nations but for foreign nations is an opportunity to continue working to advance the agenda they have been advancing in the region. The agenda is not [indiscernible] once they are able to return to constitution order, which we hope they do very soon. Mohammed antoine, picking up on what some of what stella just said, the fact that general nguema is part of the elite in gabon, are there some in gabon who are worried this will just be more of the same Going Forward . Antoine yes. Mr. Nguema is related to ali bongo, the former president. The bongo era is continuing because that is the same family. More than 50 years already. But if Brice Oligui Nguema stays in power, this means the era of bongo continues. Its the reason why ali bongo was not killed. I think theres an arrangement. What is really important it i is what comes after this coup. We dont think military officers are able to leave the country. Theres no minister. The senate, everything. The coup leader says the president is arrested. Weve seen yesterday the president was able to send a video on the internet. I think they have made some arrangement. Mohammed stella, i saw you reacting to some of what antoine was saying and it looked like he wanted to jump in, so please go ahead. Stella we definitely know that the president got assistance to send out that information, if he was under house arrest at the palace by the military. But more importantly is the fact that he was calling on individuals outside of the country to come out and support him. He was calling on individuals to make noise. When you start calling on people outside of your country to make noise, it basically means you do not trust entirely you have that kind of legitimacy on the ground. The question is what contentions to his people have against him. We already know about the need for change of guard in the country, the interest in the country in ensuring their own interests are taken care of. But speaking of calling on people outside the country, there are very many foreign governments that have spoken on this matter. There are very many foreign voices that have come in and i mean both international and ecoloss ecowas voices. We have governments around this country desperately in need of ensuring this thing happening in gabon, previously happened in niger, does not happen in their countries. Changes have been made in cameroon. That apart from panicking there is also the sense this change of government will become a thing in the government. We have a lot of dictators. We have a lot of people coming into this conversation, like the government of france, who are protecting their interests in something most of the countries fighting against. Mohammed i want to pick up on that point youre making about france. I also want to go to lassane and pick up on another thing you mentioned. Lassane, stella was talking about the coup that happened five weeks ago in niger. I want to talk to you about what was different about in niger from gabon. Lassane obviously there is a lot we do not know yet about the gabon coup. But what we can see with comparing with the coup in new a in niger is this is likely a ceremonial coup detat. A coup detat where there has not been any internal opposition. Contrary to the coup in niger, we have not seen people come out protesting, floating russian flags. So the reaction of the gabonese people is now were getting rid of this dynasty that has been in power for so long but there is no discourse, at least for the moment. I have not seen any response from the gabonese people. Ok, were different in our interest, we are going to do anything to defend our interest. If you listen to the appeal that bongo issued on a video call, he did it in english, not in french. I understand that gabon is now part of the commonwealth, which is also something to consider here. Why is gabon, a former french colony, a member of the commonwealth . What has been going on in terms of the franco gabonese relationship to the point where gabon would seek to join the commonwealth . So i think i would go back a few years ago a few months ago when macron visited gabon to talk about Climate Change and everything. The gabonese peoples reaction to the arrival of the president of france was showing signs there was a disconnection between, or at least a departure from work we have always known as france and africa. Mohammed sorry to interrupt but let me ask you further about the reactions we have heard thus far from African Leaders and institutions. On wednesday the nigerian president , current chair of ecowas, he said he was working close with other African Leaders to contain what he called a contagion of autocracy spreading across africa. Time after time when these coups happen, and there have been a lot of coups recently, we see condemnation from African Leaders and we hear talk of proposals to try to settle these disputes and end these crises, but not much seems to happen. Why have these institutions and leaders not been more effective . Lassane i think that these institutions have failed fundamentally to address the root causes of coup detats. They rather come late to adjust the symptoms when the disease is already in. Today, its sad to say, but its no longer a matter of what is next. We can even say it is a matter of who is next. Because we see a number of african countries where the situation is not good at all. The situation, the governing situation is very bad. And our regional organizations are not reacting to that. They are not reacting and saying, look, the elections are not going well. Even he was recently elected, but the election has issues for the nigerian people. They took their case to the court and that is being decided while the president has sworn into be president. Its a very problematic issue that are African Union needed to address. But since we have failed to address those, what comes next when the militarys see an opportunity to seize power . We should not forget that those are also citizens, and they have families who are members of our communities and they understand in which those kind of poor leadership is taken into. Mohammed antoine, often when news of these coups emerge, there is a lot of talk about mistretta about democratic backsliding in the region. I want to ask, is it fair to mention that the context of what happened in gabon . There were a lot of allegations that fraud had taken place in the elections over the weekend. The bongo family has ruled gabon for 566 years. For 56 years. So is it accurate to say the coup is evidence of erosion of democracy in gabon . Antoine i dont think so. The population is getting poorer and poorer. Half the population is living in the capital. [indiscernible] people are living very difficult everyday living. They dont understand why there is a group of people in power that use money and they dont have anything to eat. Because in gabon, some families dont have more than 2 a day for everyday living. The country is rich. We have oil, we have food, we have raw materials. Its impossible for all the wealth that we have. Gabon was one of the richest countries in africa. Now we see in Equatorial Guinea theres more development. Money in gabon is not distributed. Its a problem. They think this coup can bring something better. But i am not sure because the military in power now dont know how to run the country. Mohammed stella, i had interrupted you earlier when you started to make a point about gabons relation with france. Gabon was a former Friends Colony and is one of how much influence is france losing across the region at this point . Stella i am glad you asked that question and im glad you interrupted me, because i want to pick up from where antoine has left. Gabon has been led by this Family Dynasty for over 50 years. It is not that that is the main figure right now to get rid of the president. The environment is ripe for a c oup because of other confluence is leading to this. We are coming out of a pandemic, we are at the center of a Global Economic these people have to figure out how to survive. Their relationship with france is that gabon pays tax to the government of france, to the tune of 500 billion usd. Its collected from 14 of the poorest nations in the region. Gabon happens to be a very wealthy country. They are definitely paying a lot out, and yet their people are staying hungary. At some point when you are pushing citizens to the wall, eventually they are going to be reactions. Part of why france is losing influence in the region is because all those countries are beginning to ask why do we have wealth, why do we have resources, and we have to pay so much outside . That would explain why their military coups. But apart from having military coups, there is resistance to the voice of france declaring the moral high ground. Youve seen those situations repeating themselves even to the point of niger. France is losing influence because this thing they continue to do is an injustice to those countries. Even if you are collecting compensation for you built in a country at the time you are colonizing them. Surely you cannot collect compensation in perpetuity. Number two is that the influence that has been held over that region has not changed the region in any way. In any case it has continued to put these people under abject poverty, with People Living under less than 2 a day. That kind of a dignity cannot be sustained or accepted by humans for a long time. It has to stop. The people who suffer are the women and the children, because coups generally do not recognize interests of women and children. Many of them do not rise to the top, even after a coup. Mohammed lassane, we spoke a little bit earlier about the International Condemnation that we have heard thus far from several International Actors. I want to ask you, where do you see this Going Forward when it comes to the reaction in the days, weeks, and months ahead from the International Players . And is there an International Actor that would be able to step in from your Vantage Point and try to resolve any of this . Lassane i think the International Community involvement in gabon will be purely based on specific interests that each one of those countries has in gabon. When the chinese issue a statement of condemning the coup, but they did not address the question of the election, whether the election was fair and transparent. Nobody is talking about that. And in that matter, the opposition and the gabonese people are the losers in this story. When the french condemned the coup, they do not condemn with the same energy in which they have condemned the coups in niger and elsewhere. When the rest of the west condemned the coup, including the African Union, its just a basic way of saying, look, in principle we do not agree with coup detats. But i am questioning whether all these International Actors will find ways to maintain the system. There will not be a lot of pressure on this military regime to transition quickly to give power to civilians. And if they do that, they will also work towards maintaining the same status quo that allowed the international partners, which i believe are equally liable to the suffering of the gabonese people, in as much as they have been informed for many years while coming ali bongo. Its so unfair to the gabonese people. When you think that this nation is extremely rich in natural resources, and only has two million people. That is, for god sake, less than the size of the population of lagos. So it does not make sense that from such a small number of people, were unable to meet their basic needs. And at the same time you are collaborating with nations that claim to be democratic. It does not make any sense. Its just ridiculous. Mohammed lassane, i am sorry to cut you off, but we are very much running out of time. I just want to get the last word to antoine, because he is there on the ground. We only have about 90 seconds left. I want to ask you about the fact the military is promising stability. From what you are hearing from others in gabon, do you think that is possible . Antoine i think it is possible. I think that france, president macron, has to change the way politics are in frenchspeaking countries. [indiscernible] its something the french people have to do. Changing what happened in niger, now in gabon. Maybe in months or years, something will happen in Equatorial Guinea. But this is a very good position to africa to make politics. Its not good for the democratic view of the african country. Its a shame to see that now people cannot leave the countrys reach. Students in gabon are learning in europe and america. Mohammed antoine, antoine, i am sorry to cut you off but we have run out of time. Thank you so much to you and all of our other guests. Antoine lawson, stella agara, and lassane ouedraogo. And thank you for watching. You can see the program again any time by visiting our website , aljazeera. Com. And for further discussion you can go to our facebook page, facebook. Com ajinsidestory. You can also go to ajinsidestory. From Mohammed Jamjoom and the whole team here, bye for now. Kyoto was the onetime capital of japan and the city itself dates back to the 6th century, and before. If youre japanese and want to take a walk back through history, this city will be at the top of your list. Kyoto is such a symbol of historic japan that japanese tourists will often rent kimonos to walk around town in during their stay here, to help them really get into the vibe of this ancient city. 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