France’s Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu says that Paris has suspended military cooperation with the new regime in Gabon. This comes as leader General Brice Oligui Nguema vowed the country’s institutions would be more democratic, two days after heading a coup that ended 55 years of rule by the Bongo family.

France has around 400 soldiers in Gabon who train the country’s army.

“At present, their activities have been suspended while awaiting clarification of the political situation,” Lecornu was quoted as saying in an article posted in Le Figaro newspaper online Friday evening.

Five other countries in Africa – Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Burkina Faso and Niger – have undergone coups in the last three years. Their new rulers have resisted demands for a short timetable for returning to barracks.

France condemned Wednesday’s coup in Gabon and has reiterated its desire to see the results of the election respected referring to last Saturday’s disputed presidential polls in the West African country.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of the elite Republican Guard, on Wednesday deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba, scion of a family that had ruled for 55 years.

The ouster came just moments after Bongo, 64, was proclaimed victor – a result branded a fraud by the opposition.

The coup leaders dissolved the nation’s institutions, cancelled the election results and closed the borders.

Oligui is due on Monday to be sworn in as “transitional president”.

A spokesman for the new regime said on state TV that they had “decided with immediate effect to reopen the land, sea and air borders as of this Saturday”.

Plans to restore civilian rule