One of the factors that encouraged the military intervention in Gabon is the contagion effect of recent successful coups in Africa.
The second factor is a power tussle between the coup leader, Nguema, and Sylvia Bongo.
The deposed president’s wife is widely believed to have grown in influence after her husband suffered a stroke in 2018.
Nguema was relieved of his duties as head of the president’s security.
It was revealed that Sylvia was preparing her son to succeed his father.
Noureddine would have been the third generation of the Bongo family to rule Gabon after Ali Bongo succeeded his father in 2009.
