A coup, as any other political violence, disrupts an existing order. At the official or formal level, it ruptures the hierarchy. Informally, individuals in particular are affected in many ways. Imagine what the Lt who made the coup announcement and has been arrested might be going through now.
Imagine also what would have been the state of affairs with the first family by now. Though most unlikely to be physically in Gabon since their father’s position and the French origin of their mother opens opportunities on a world scale, it would still have been unsettling for them if it had been a successful coup. In this picture from the BBC are President Ali Bongo’s four children and their French mother.
