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STORY: Gabon's coup leader compared the country's security and defense forces to a "meteorite in the dark of night" as he was sworn in as interim president on Monday (September 4).

General Brice Oligui Nguema led military officers who seized power on August 30.

The takeover took place just minutes after President Ali Bongo was declared winner of an election - a result the coup leaders have said was not credible.

Nguema's inauguration presented the military as liberators of an oppressed society.

"Like a meteorite in the dark of night, our country's defence and security forces assumed their responsibilities... It was without violence, without clashes and without bloodshed that the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions, abbreviated CTRI, changed the regime that had been confusing the power of the Republic's institutions for several years, in flagrant disregard of democratic rules."

Nguema's speech - repeatedly interrupted by cheers - also proposed reforms.

They included a new constitution to be adopted after a referendum, new electoral and penal codes and measures to prioritize local banks and companies for economic development.

He said political exiles would be welcomed back and political prisoners freed.

Several figures from Bongo's government, including the vice president and prime minister, attended the ceremony.

Bongo himself remains under house arrest.

The coup - ending the Bongo family's 56-year grip on power - had drawn cheering crowds onto the streets of the capital Libreville.

However, it has also been condemned abroad.

Central African regional bloc ECCAS has urged partners, led by the United Nations and the African Union, to support a rapid return to constitutional order.

At his inauguration, Nguema reiterated that his administration would organize free and fair elections - though gave no timetable.

He has previously said the junta would proceed "quickly but surely" but cautioned that too much haste could lead to elections that lacked credibility.