Former Opposition Leader Appointed Interim Prime Minister by Gabon Military Junta

Gabon's military government, which seized power in a coup last week, has appointed former opposition leader Raymond Ndong Sima as the prime minister of its transitional government. Sima, an economist and critic of President Ali Bongo, served as Bongo's prime minister from 2012 to 2014 and ran against him for president in 2016. The military government, led by General Brice Oligui Nguema, has promised economic reforms and free and fair elections but has not provided a timeframe. The coup in Gabon is the eighth in three years in West and Central Africa.