Africa experienced another round of coup déjà vu on Wednesday when military officers in Gabon seized power moments after the announcement of incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s reelection win. The officers, led by Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of Gabon’s presidential guard, went on state-run television to announce that they were voiding the Aug. 26 election results, closing the Central African country’s borders, and dissolving all state institutions.

The new transitional government, called the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, denounced Bongo’s rule as propagating “irresponsible and unpredictable governance.” Under Bongo’s leadership, 30 percent of Gabon’s population lives in poverty and nearly 40 percent of young people are unemployed, despite the state generating around $6 billion in 2022 from its vast oil production wealth.

Bongo and members of his family are under house arrest at the presidential palace in Libreville, the capital. The Bongo family’s reign has been one of Africa’s longest-serving dynasties. Prior to Bongo, who has served as head of state since 2009, his father ruled the country for almost 42 years. In a video shared online by a Gabonese journalist on Wednesday, the deposed leader pleaded for international support to help restore him to power.

Controversy marred Bongo’s most recent electoral win even before the results were announced on Wednesday. Opposition leader Albert Ondo Ossa, who secured 31 percent of the vote versus Bongo’s 65 percent, accused the ruling Gabonese Democratic Party of rigging ballots and harassing voters. Prior to election day, Bongo imposed a nightly curfew, and Gabon’s government cut internet access, allegedly to combat disinformation. Many residents fled the capital over the weekend in anticipation of violence. No international election observers were invited to oversee Gabon’s vote.

If Gabon’s junta succeeds, then it will be the eighth coup in West and Central Africa (and the sixth former French colony) to overthrow its government since 2020. Prior to Gabon, the most recent African coup occurred in Niger in July—and was also carried out by the head of the nation’s presidential guard. Gabon last battled a coup attempt in 2019, when soldiers briefly took control of a state broadcaster.

Hundreds of people have gathered in Libreville’s streets to celebrate the junta’s takeover. However, not everyone has been quick to cheer on Africa’s latest coup. Officials in France, which has troops in Gabon, condemned the takeover and ordered French citizens in the country to remain indoors. White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the events in Gabon were “deeply concerning” and that the United States is watching the situation “very, very closely.” He also said all U.S. Embassy personnel, as well as what he called a small number of U.S. troops in the country, have been accounted for. Russia and China expressed concern regarding the potential spread of violence in the region.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, the chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), warned that a “contagion of autocracy” is spreading across the continent and said he was working closely with other African leaders on how to respond in Gabon, though Gabon is not a member of ECOWAS.