Gabon’s deposed head of state Ali Bongo is allowed to leave the country to receive medical treatment abroad. The military said so on state television. Bongo has been under house arrest since the coup.
About a week after the coup in Gabon, the military said they released deposed President Ali Bongo from house arrest. Bongo is free and can travel abroad for medical examinations, a military spokesman said on state television station Gabon 24. The 64-year-old suffered a stroke in 2018.
According to information from the epd news agency, the statement was followed by a report in which the UN representative for Central Africa, Abdou Abarry, visited the deposed head of state. Bongo can be seen talking to Abarry, but is not interviewed.
Abarry said in the report that Bongo is in good health and has spoken out in favor of social cohesion and peace in the country. The UN representative had previously been received by the President of the Transitional Council, Brice Oligui Nguema.
Gabons celebrated the end of the bongo era
On Wednesday last week, the military deposed the longtime head of state after the controversial August 26 election and placed him under house arrest.
From there, Bongo had asked his supporters for help in a video: “I’m Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon, and I’m sending a message to all my friends around the world: get loud, get loud.”
Hundreds of people celebrated the end of the bongo era in Gabon’s capital, Libreville. Bongo took over the presidency in 2009 from his father, Omar Bongo, who had ruled the country since 1967.