Gabon’s Ousted President Ali Bongo Regains Freedom

Gabon’s former president Ali Bongo, who was ousted in a putsch, is free to leave the country and travel abroad the leader of the coup that toppled him said on Wednesday.

VerseNews reports that General Brice Oligui Nguema in a statement read on state television said, “He has freedom of movement… and can travel abroad if he wishes,”

Bongo, in power for 14 years, had been under house arrest since the military coup of August 30, carried out without bloodshed less than an hour after his party proclaimed his re-election in a vote described as fraudulent by the putschists.

“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba has freedom of movement. He can travel abroad if he wishes to carry out his medical checks,” Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi said, reading a press release signed by Oligui took his oath as transitional president on Monday.

Bongo suffered a serious stroke in October 2018 which left him physically impaired, with particular difficulty moving his right leg and arm.