Gabon: Ali Bongo finally free to move and authorised to travel
Gabon’s ruling military announced on Wednesday 06 September that deposed president Ali Bongo Ondimba had been released. According to the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI), the now ex-President of Gabon is free to leave the country at will.
Ali Bongo, who has been under house arrest since 30 August following the coup d’état carried out by units of his presidential guard, is finally free to move about and even to travel.
«Given his state of health, former president Ali Bongo Ondimba is free to move about. If he wishes, he can travel abroad to undergo medical check-ups», declared Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi, spokesman for the Gabonese transition, in a statement broadcast on national television.
Ali Bongo suffered a stroke in October 2018, which left him physically impaired and forced him into a long convalescence.
In power for 14 years following the death of his father Omar Bongo, President Ali Bongo was deposed by a group of soldiers claiming to be members of the Committee for the Transition and Restoration of Institutions (CTRI) on 30 August 30, a few minutes after the results of the presidential election, which declared him the winner, were announced.
Before his release was announced, he was visited in his house under surveillance by the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadéra, who has been appointed facilitator in the Gabon case by his peers in the Community of Central African States (ECCAS), and by Abdou Abarry, representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Central Africa.
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