by Alberto Galvi –
The coup leader, Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema, is the commander-in-chief of Gabon’s Republican Guard, the most powerful security unit, and is a cousin of ousted President Ali Bongo. He was later named the country’s transition leader. Nguema is today one of the most influential and enigmatic figures of Gabon: the son of a military officer, he trained at the Royal Military Academy of Meknes, Morocco.
Nguema then served as an aide-de-camp to a commander in former President Omar Bongo’s Republican Guard until his death in 2009. When Omar Bongo’s son Ali Bongo came to power in October 2009, Nguema was sent to Morocco and Senegal on diplomatic missions. A decade later, Colonel Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took over the leadership of the Republican Guard, an elite army body charged with protecting the head of state, replacing General Grégoire Kouna, cousin of Ali Bongo Ondimba.
As chief, Nguema sought to strengthen Gabon’s internal security systems with reforms that were seen as prolonging Bongo’s stay in power. In addition to military and diplomatic duties, Nguema was also regarded as a businessman, earning the status of a millionaire in Gabonese circles that matter. An investigation by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Nguema’s investments in US real estate were made in large cash payments.
Bongo is currently under house arrest.
