Image source, Burkina Faso presidency

Burkina Faso’s interim President Ibrahim Traoré has held talks with a Russian delegation on military co-operation, the Burkinabe presidency says.

It said the visit, led by Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov, was a follow-up to talks between Mr Traoré and President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.

The talks focused on aspects of military support including “the training of Burkinabe officer cadets and officers at all levels, including pilots in Russia”, the statement, issued on Thursday, said.

There were also discussions on areas of economic co-operation and nuclear energy, it said.

The visit comes as Russia seeks to step up efforts to court political and economic influence in Africa.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner, whose leader Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last week, had wanted to expand its operations to Burkina Faso.

Read more:

• Wagner in Africa: Precarious future after Prigozhin's reported death

Image source, AFP

Rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo for killing dozens of protesters demonstrating against UN forces.

The government has said that at least 43 people were killed when soldiers broke up a demonstration against UN peacekeepers in the eastern city of Goma on Wednesday.

Dozens were wounded and more than 150 arrested, including the leader of a religious sect.

Initially the authorities had put the number of fatalities at just seven, including a police officer who had been stoned to death.

In a statement, external, HRW said the officials "who ordered the use of unlawful lethal force should be suspended, investigated, and held accountable in fair and public trials".

It said the troops appeared to have fired into a crowd to prevent a demonstration against the UN, calling it an "extremely callous as well as unlawful way to enforce a ban”.

It said it had authenticated two videos showing soldiers throwing bodies onto the back of a truck.

The government says it has begun an investigation into the matter.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Paul Njie
BBC News, Yaoundé

Image source, Getty Images

One of Africa’s longest-serving presidents has appointed new military leaders on the same day a junta seized power in neighbouring Gabon.

President Paul Biya of Cameroon carried out a wide-ranging reshuffle of his country’s defence ministry and armed forces on Wednesday.

No reason was given for the shake-up.

Colonel Cyrille Guemo, the director of communications at Cameroon’s ministry of defence, told a Turkish news agency that the new appointments had been on the president’s table for many days.

But with the “tsunami of military coups that is sweeping across former French colonies... leaders that have been in power for a very long time” should be concerned, says David Otto, a security expert.

“The younger generation which is made up of military leaders is no longer tolerant of regimes that operate in some kind of dynasty,” Mr Otto said.

Although Mr Biya’s presidency initially came under threat when soldiers tried to seize power soon after his first election, he has since succeeded in maintaining the military’s loyalty.

While Wednesday’s new military appointments are wide-ranging, observers say the roles involved lack the power and capacity to stage a coup.

We have stopped updating this page - our live coverage has now moved to the deadly fire incident in South Africa.

Follow the latest coverage on the fire incident here.

Gnawa music is a Moroccan spiritual musical tradition developed by descendants of enslaved people from Sub-Saharan Africa. It combines ritual poetry with traditional music and dance, and is traditionally only performed by men. But one female Moroccan artist, Asmâa Hamzaoui, has broken the mould. She's become an international star, who has even performed for Madonna on her birthday. For Assignment, reporter Myriam Francois travels to Casablanca to meet Asmaa and her family, and follows her to the Essaouira Festival, the annual celebration of Gnawa culture.

What does its ever-growing popularity tell us about the changing identity of a country that once saw itself primarily as part of the Arab world, but has now become more interested in its links to the rest of the African continent?

Presented by Myriam Francois Produced by Tim Whewell Series editor Penny Murphy

(Image: Asmâa Hamzaoui. Credit: BBC/Myriam Francois)

Emma Owen
Live reporter

We're going to stop updating this page now - if there are further developments overnight, you'll be able to find them on our home page, and on our Africa page.

We've a wealth of content for you to read on the site - here's the best of what we have:

Our news story: Army seizes power and puts President under house arrest

An easy read: Our simple guide to what's happening

Profile: The playboy prince now under house arrest

Best video: Gabon's ousted president speaks from house arrest

Our Africa team will be back in the morning and will bring you the latest.

Until then, have a good evening.

Image source, Getty Images

Before we go, let's recap a dramatic day in Gabon.

• Crowds in the capital Libreville and elsewhere have celebrated the army’s declaration that it had removed President Bongo from power and put him under house arrest
• Military officers appeared on national TV to say they were cancelling recent election results, which were claimed by opposition figures to be fraudulent
• There has been simmering resentment of the Bongo family for years - it has ruled Gabon for 56 years, and there has been public discontent over broader issues such as the cost of living
• One of the lingering mysteries is who’s in charge now, after the man put forward by coup leaders denied he’d been declared Gabon’s interim leader
• This is the eighth coup in former French colonies in Africa in the past three years, and France is among the foreign nations that have condemned the latest events

We'll be finishing up our coverage shortly, and we're aware that the dramatic events in Gabon have drawn in new readers.

So, for those less familiar with the country, here are a few things you may not know about the resource-rich former French colony that has been dominated for most of its post-independence history by the Bongo family.

1. Dubbed "central Africa's little emirate" because of its oil that was discovered in the 1970s. With a relatively small population, this has allowed a strong middle class to grow - and oil makes up 60% of the country's revenues

Image source, Getty Images

2. Nearly 90% of Gabon is covered by tropical rainforest, which captures more carbon than the country emits, and where large herds of forest elephant, chimpanzees and an abundance of other wildlife live

3. British environmentalist Lee White became minister of forestry, the environment and climate change in 2019, leading the way for it to become Africa’s first country to receive payment for reducing carbon emissions by protecting its rainforests

Image source, Getty Images

4. Footballer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the former Arsenal striker who now plays for Marseille, is Gabon’s all-time top scorer. Although born in France, his father is Gabonese and a former professional player

5. President Bongo wanted to be a pop star in his youth, releasing a funk album in 1978when he was known as Alain Bongo. This is a link to one track I Wanna Stay with You, external, in which he sings: "Thought that it was cool, breaking all the rules.”

Gabon has been the top trend worldwide today on Twitter, now known as X, with an overwhelmingly positive reaction.

This is unlike other recent coups in Africa which have had a much more mixed or negative response.

TikTok has also seen people expressing their hope that the coup will “save” the oil-rich nation from the nearly six decades of the Bongo family in power.

“It's senseless to say one family ruled a particular country for 54 years, and still call it ‘a democracy’,” one tweet said.

Despite the coup’s popular support, some social media users warn that Gabon’s real test has just began, and that the country will only experience real change if the military hands over power through fresh democratic elections.

Image source, get

A resident of Libreville has been speaking to the BBC about how today unfolded.

“At first I was scared, but then I felt joy. I was scared because of the realisation that I am living through a coup, but the joy is because we’ve been waiting for so long for this regime to be overthrown," he said.

“The atmosphere in Libreville is very peculiar. There's so much joy around finally being liberated from the Bongo family as well as quite a bit of apprehension.

"You know, here in Gabon, we used to say we'd be happy to elect a dog in place of Bongo, and in a way, we're very happy we never got there. We're happy that our army did this by themselves and it makes us feel like we're heading towards a solution that will take everyone into account.

"I was able to walk around at ease earlier, but there are quite a few checkpoints at every street corner, and the streets are now quite calm and empty."

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Gabon in March, and protesters in the country’s second-largest city, Port-Gentil, used the opportunity to demand the departure of French troops stationed in the country.

France, which has around 400 soldiers permanently based in the capital, Libreville, as part of a military training operation, has significant economic interests in its former colony, including in the mining and oil sectors.

The Port-Gentil protests were organised by the opposition Gabonese Patriotic Front, which said the defence accords between the two countries no longer contributed to Gabon’s development as the country was not at war.

"We denounce the partnership between France and the illegitimate regime of Ali Bongo, whose family has held power in Gabon since 1967," David Pandjo Ngoma, one of the protest organisers, said at the time.

Image source, Getty Images

The leader of a Gabonese opposition party has told the BBC he is "delighted" that the military has removed President Ali Bongo, whose family ruled Gabon for more than 50 years.

"The Bongo family has been in power for too long," Nicolas Nguema, head of Pour Le Changement (PLC), told the BBC's Focus on Africa podcast.

He said military intervention was the only way of changing the "regime" - Ali Bongo's father Omar began ruling Gabon in 1967 and his son took over in 2009.

"I am delighted with the situation, I am delighted that we have been able to put an end to this dictatorial regime which imprisons the youth," Nguema said.

"The popular jubilation that we have been hearing in the streets since this morning shows that I am in line with history, with my time, with this thirst for change that we have all had for so long, if not forever," he added.

The head of Ecowas, a grouping of West African nations, is also watching the situation with "deep concern", according to comments cited by the Reuters news agency.

Bola Tinubu - who is also the president of Nigeria - is said to be working out how to respond, along with fellow leaders in the region.

In an apparent reference to other recent military coups nearby, Tinubu says he's concerned that the continent is in the grip of a "contagion" - a word also chosen by our correspondent Hugh Schofield earlier on this page.

In the US, White House national security spokesman John Kirby has been briefing the press on what officials there make of the coup.

As we've mentioned, there have been several coups in West Africa in recent years - see our earlier post.

Kirby says the military takeover is deeply concerning, but says "it's too soon to call this a trend."

He says the US will be watching the situation closely and do "everything we can to support the idea of democratic ideals that are expressed by the African people".

Why the military felt empowered to remove Bongopublished at 16:52 British Summer Time 30 August 2023

16:52 BST 30 August 2023

Gaius Kowene
BBC Afrique

Image source, REX/Shutterstock

The officers who have taken power in Gabon did so shortly after election results were announced, saying President Ali Bongo had been re-elected despite opposition complaints of fraud.

The response to the coup reflects widespread unhappiness about the length of time the Bongo family has been in power.

But the military could also have felt empowered because of France’s weakness on the continent, judging that the former colonial power was unlikely to intervene to help Bongo - their long-time ally.

Divisions on the home front also strengthened the army’s hand, with even the Bongo family split, as an uncle of the president was running for office in Saturday’s election.

Like elsewhere, there have been complaints about the cost of living - though Gabon has been benefiting from climate change initiatives linked to its rainforests.

Yet with the Bongo clan dominating across the board, resentments have grown as there is little space for an independent private sector to flourish.

As you'll see in the clip above, hundreds of people have taken to the streets of Libreville, the capital of Gabon, to celebrate the country's change of leadership.

Emma Owen
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Good afternoon. If you're joining us afresh, or checking back in on the latest developments, this should get you up to speed quickly:

Why was there a coup?

The coup leaders disagreed with the official results of the election, which said President Ali Bongo had won with about two-thirds of the votes.

What's going on now?

Ali Bongo, 64, is under house arrest. The military is in charge. Hundreds of people have taken to the streets to celebrate.

Where is Gabon?

On the west coast of Africa - it's about the size of the UK. It's known for its rich natural resources but a third of its population are said to live in poverty.

Who's Ali Bongo?

A prominent freemason, a keen football fan and a funk musician in the 1970s. His father was president before him.

That's a briefer-than-brief guide - read more (but not too much more) in our really simple guide here.

The situation on the ground in Gabon is still unclear, despite efforts to verify the conflicting accounts reaching us.

Several burning questions remain. How long, if at all, has this coup been planned? Who is in charge? Where is President Ali Bongo?

Asked about the president's whereabouts in an interview with Le Monde, Brice Oligui Nguema, piled on yet more mystery.

"Can you confirm that he is under house arrest at his home in Libreville?" he was asked.

Nguema's response: "I cannot tell you. You will find out as we go along."

More now on Le Monde's interview , externalwith Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of Gabon's presidential guard.

It earlier appeared that Nguema had been put forward by the coup leaders to replace Ali Bongo, the deposed president. Footage broadcast earlier on state TV showed him raised in the air by troops chanting his name.

But he's denied any such appointment has been made.

"I am not declaring myself yet, I am not considering anything at the moment," he told the French newspaper.

"It is a debate we will have with all the generals."