Brandishing his green beret of the Republican Guard, carried in triumph by his men of this elite unit, General Brice Oligui Nguema, new strongman of Gabon, was appointed Wednesday president of the transition by the putschists. “Oligui President!” “, chanted the hundreds of soldiers, after putschist officers announced on Wednesday that they had put an “end to the regime” of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, placed under house arrest.
This 48-year-old man with an athletic build and a bald head, who is said to be as discreet as he is secretive, did not appear in the first three press releases he let read by colonels and lieutenant-colonels at the state television station. Including the one who inducts him transitional president, at the head of the “Committee for the transition and the restoration of institutions” (CTRI).
This respected and charismatic leader of the Republican Guard (GR), according to those close to him, had been at the head of the most powerful unit of the army since 2019. Reputed to be a Francophile, he was very close to the former head of state whom he followed like his shadow from 2005 to 2009, and until the last breath of the one who was considered one of the pillars of Françafrique, in a hospital in Barcelona, tells Agence France-Presse a former close collaborator in the “Patriarch’s” office.
“He is someone who knows the Gabonese military very well, he is a good soldier, trained in good military schools”, that of the Royal Military Academy of Meknes in Morocco, confides a member of the Democratic Party Gabonese (CEO) of Ali Bongo, on condition of anonymity.
At the head of this elite regiment, he notably pushed Ali Bongo to improve the living and working conditions of his men: repair and modernization of infrastructure, funding of schools for the children of soldiers, restoration of certain housing. .. Measures that have allowed this “leader of men” to attract sympathy and respect from his people. “He’s very taciturn, not talkative, but very popular with his men. He’s a Julius Caesar, and Julius Caesar watches over the comfort of his legionnaires”, assures the same member of the CEO.
The former close collaborator praises “a man of consensus, who never raises his voice, who listens to everyone and systematically seeks compromise”. He proved it again on Wednesday by uniting officers from all army corps in the CTRI for a coup, with no reported bloodshed. But after “retiring” Ali Bongo, as Brice Oligui put it, he has yet to set a timeframe for a transition before civilians return to power, casting doubt on his intentions.