Gabon general denies coup plot

Gabon army General Jean-Philippe Ntumpa Lebani appeared before a trial judge on Tuesday in Libreville, and denied all charges that he had been plotting a coup d'etat against President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Ntumpa, incarcerated since September 2009, was originally charged with "attempting" to attack the state with five others.

Reuters/Philippe Wojazer

The charges were changed to "plotting" a coup during the transition period in Gabon after president Ali Bongo's death last June.

"All that is blamed on me, I do not acknowledge. I never incited a plot [...] I never incited a coup d'etat," Ntumpa said in front of Gabon's State Security Court. He took the stand for over two hours.

Government commissioner Eusebe Ondo Ndong said in court that Ntumpa had "declared in previous hearing that he intended to place Ali Bongo Ondimba in a 'Togolese' scenario," referring to the 2009 coup attempt against Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe. Gnassingbe's half-brother was accused to plotting a coup and was later arrested.

Ntumpa acknowledged that he had thought of a Togo-style coup, but he had never met the Gabonese president, so he did not pursue the idea.

Lieutenants Emile Roger Mombert and Cedric Boukoumbi also appeared in court on Tuesday.