Gabon’s President Ali Bongo appeared in a video circulating on social media, calling for support from “friends around the world” after he was placed under house arrest.
The deposed leader sits in what he calls his residence, a large room complete with wood-paneled walls, patterned carpets, and leather-bound books.
Senior officers in the Gabonese army had appeared earlier on national television saying that they had seized power in the country and that they would annul the results of the elections in which President Bongo was declared the winner.
A company working on behalf of the presidency told the BBC that the video clip in which the president speaks is real.
