{ "id": "IN11013", "type": "CRS Insight", "typeId": "INSIGHTS", "number": "IN11013", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 589833, "date": "2019-01-09", "retrieved": "2019-01-16T23:14:42.973091", "title": "Failed Coup Attempt in Gabon", "summary": "On January 7, a small group of Gabonese soldiers seized the state broadcasting building in Gabon\u2019s capital, Libreville, and declared their intention to overthrow the government of President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Within hours, security forces retook the building and put down the coup attempt. The attempt followed months of political uncertainty after the president (aged 59) suffered a stroke in Saudi Arabia in October 2018; he has since remained outside the country and is currently convalescing in Morocco. \nSeparately, the coup attempt came days after President Trump announced the deployment, beginning on January 2, of \u201capproximately 80\u201d U.S. military personnel to Libreville as a standby force to protect \u201cU.S. citizens, personnel, and diplomatic facilities\u201d in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), should the security situation there deteriorate in the wake of December 2018 elections. Shortly after the coup attempt, a U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesperson stated that \u201cthere is no change in the status\u201d of that deployment, and that U.S. forces were not presently tasked with securing diplomatic assets (or any other mission) in Gabon.\nAn oil-rich former French colony on the geostrategic Gulf of Guinea, Gabon has long been considered a stable\u2014if authoritarian-leaning\u2014country in a tumultuous region. U.S. interests center on Gabon\u2019s role in regional conflict resolution, maritime security, and environmental conservation. Prolonged unrest in Gabon could pose challenges for U.S.-Gabonese ties and worsen prospects for stability in Central Africa, which faces several violent political crises.\nFigure 1. Gabon\n/\nGeneral\nCapital: Libreville\nComparative size: Slightly smaller than Colorado.\nIndependence: 1960, from France.\n\nPeople\nLanguages: French (official), Fang, Myene, Nzebi, Bapounou/Eschira, Bandjabi.\nReligions: Christian 82%, Muslim 9.8%, other/none 8.2% (2012).\nPopulation, growth rate: 2.1 million, 2.7%.\nLiteracy: 83.2% (male 85.3%, female 81%) (2015).\n\nHealth\nMedian age, life expectancy: 21 years, 68 years.\nInfant mortality rate: 32.9 deaths/1,000 live births.\nAdult HIV/AIDS adult prevalence: 4.2% (2017).\n\nEconomy\nGDP: $17.2 billion, $8,385 per capita.\nGDP growth rate: 2.0%.\nTop exports: crude oil, timber, manganese, uranium.\nTop export partners: China 36.4%, United States 10%, Ireland 8.5%, Netherlands 6.3%, South Korea 5.1%, Australia 5%, Italy 4.6% (2017)\nTop imports: machinery + equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, construction materials.\nTop import partners: France 23.6%, Belgium 19.6%, China 15.2% (2017)\n\nSources: Graphic created by CRS. Map information generated by Hannah Fischer using data from the Department of State (2017), Garmin (2017), ArcWorld (2017), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (2007). Figures from CIA World Factbook, UNAIDS, and the International Monetary Fund; 2018 estimates unless otherwise indicated.\nBackground\nGabon\u2019s oil wealth and sparse population contribute to a relatively high per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $8,385. Income inequality and poverty remain high, however, and state services are reportedly poor. The oil-dominated economy has recently been hamstrung by the global downturn in energy prices: growth, which averaged over 4.9% annually between 2010 and 2016, dropped to 0.5% in 2017 before rebounding moderately to 2.0% in 2018. Nominal per-capita income has dropped by 23% since 2011. \nPresident Bongo was first elected in 2009, succeeding his father, El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, who held the office for over 40 years. The military and the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG), which dominates the legislature, are widely seen as key pillars of his administration. He won reelection by a razor-thin margin in 2016, a vote that was criticized by European Union observers and marred by a violent government crackdown on large opposition demonstrations. Freedom House considers Gabon \u201cNot Free,\u201d noting that Bongo \u201cmaintains political dominance through a pervasive patronage system and restrictions on dissent.\u201d According to the State Department, key human rights challenges include \u201charsh prison conditions; an inefficient judiciary subject to government influence; interference with the right of assembly; government corruption; trafficking in persons; and child labor.\u201d \nUncertainty has permeated Gabon since October 2018, when President Bongo suffered a stroke. Speculation about Bongo\u2019s fitness for office has since flourished as the government has provided little information about his health. After a month in Saudi Arabia, Bongo relocated to Morocco. In mid-November, the Constitutional Court altered the constitution to allow the vice president or prime minister to execute key presidential functions when the president is \u201ctemporarily\u201d unavailable\u2014thus averting the need to hold fresh elections, as the constitution requires when the president is permanently incapacitated. Opposition groups decried the amendment as undemocratic and designed to prolong Bongo\u2019s rule.\nCoup Attempt and Context\nEarly on January 7, a small group of junior soldiers\u2014some wearing uniforms of the Republican Guard, an elite unit that protects the presidency\u2014seized control of the state broadcaster. Alleging that Bongo was unfit to govern, the coup leader called for the establishment of a council to oversee a transition to democracy. Reports suggest that \u201cabout 300 people\u201d may have rallied in support of the conspirators. Security forces promptly regained control of the building and arrested several conspirators, including the leader, while killing two amid reports of scattered gunfire. The government reportedly cut internet and national radio broadcasts during the response. By mid-morning, Gabonese authorities announced that the putsch had been repelled.\nThe coup attempt in Gabon comes amid a broader deterioration in governance and security conditions in Central Africa. Like several other countries in the sub-region, Gabon has discarded term limits on the presidency. According to Freedom House\u2019s annual Freedom in the World index, countries in Central Africa broadly \u201chave suffered major setbacks\u201d in democratic governance. The recent, much delayed and problematic elections in DRC may augur increased violence in that country, where years of conflict have produced one of the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crises. Newer crises in the Central African Republic, Burundi, and Cameroon have also spurred large population displacements and humanitarian needs. \nU.S. Relations\nAccording to the State Department, \u201cGabon and the United States share a commitment to diversify and strengthen Gabon's economy, expand bilateral trade, ensure security in the Gulf of Guinea, and combat wildlife trafficking.\u201d Nonetheless, the country is a minor recipient of U.S. aid: bilateral State Department and USAID-administered assistance totaled $641,000 in FY2017, with the Trump Administration requesting $200,000 for FY2019, all for military training. Gabon has also benefitted from U.S. funds provided on a global or regional basis to support maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea, peacekeeping capabilities, and environmental conservation, among other aims. Gabon participates in the U.S. Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), which protects tropical forests in the Congo River basin. The Department of Defense has provided maritime security assistance, including through the AFRICOM/U.S. Navy\u2019s Africa Partnership Station initiative. \nIn 2018, the Trump Administration imposed restrictions on certain types of U.S. aid to Gabon under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Division A of P.L. 106-386, as amended), pursuant to Gabon\u2019s designation as a Tier 3 Country (worst-performing) in the State Department\u2019s 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report. The impact of such restrictions on U.S.-Gabonese relations remains to be seen.", "type": "CRS Insight", "typeId": "INSIGHTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/IN11013", "sha1": "637d430d067c73df6f9d320fbe0a8f6d12ef2450", "filename": "files/20190109_IN11013_637d430d067c73df6f9d320fbe0a8f6d12ef2450.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=IN/ASPX/IN11013_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190109_IN11013_images_5b2108b2660ae1953bd429bddee0a810f0c2c740.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/IN11013", "sha1": "0ba4ed11028331ac0088be720bb821d80bc16a96", "filename": "files/20190109_IN11013_0ba4ed11028331ac0088be720bb821d80bc16a96.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4879, "name": "Sub-Saharan Africa" } ] } ], "topics": [ "CRS Insights", "Constitutional Questions" ] }