{"id":42823,"date":"2026-08-17T09:58:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42823"},"modified":"2026-08-17T09:58:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T07:58:18","slug":"gabon-marks-66-years-of-independence-amid-political-change","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/gabon-marks-66-years-of-independence-amid-political-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabon marks 66 years of independence amid political change"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Gabon is marking 66 years of independence from France, celebrating its national day against the backdrop of a major political transformation that has reshaped the country in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Gabon officially gained independence on August 17, 1960, becoming one of several former French colonies to achieve independence during a wave of decolonisation across Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">For much of the country&#8217;s post-independence history, Gabon&#8217;s politics were dominated by the Bongo family.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Omar Bongo came to power and remained president for more than four decades, making him one of Africa&#8217;s longest-serving leaders.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">Following his death, his son, Ali Bongo Ondimba, succeeded him as president.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">In 2023, military officers announced that they had seized power, cancelled the election results and dissolved state institutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"x_MsoNormal\">&#8211;ChanneAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42825,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-42823","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Gabon is marking 66 years of independence","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42826,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42823\/revisions\/42826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}