EU Foreign Pol Chief-Gabonese Coup 'Is Big Issue For Europe'

European Commission High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, speaking at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Toledo, Spain has stated that the emerging coup in the central African nation of Gabon "Is a big issue for Europe." A military coup appears to be underway in the OPEC member state after figures in military fatigues appeared on television in the early house of 30 August claiming that they had seized power and that the results of the 27 August presidential election had been annulled.

• Incumbent Ali Bongo Ondimba, who minutes before the coup began was returned for a third term by the election authorities, has yet to be seen in public and his whereabouts are unknown.
• Borrell: "If this is confirmed, it is another military coup which increases instability in the whole region. The whole area, starting with Central African Republic, then Mali, then Burkina Faso, now Niger, maybe Gabon, it’s in a very difficult situation and certainly the ministers…have to have a deep thought on what is going on there and how we can improve our policy in respect with these countries,”
• Ali Bongo and before him his late father Omar Bongo have governed the oil, cocoa, and manganese-rich nation since 1967. Gabon is one of the smallest producers of oil in OPEC, ahead of only Equatorial Guinea in 2021. As such, there is unlikely to be any notable impact on the bloc in the event of any disruption to Gabonese supplies.