September 07, (THEWILL) – The military junta in Gabon has released ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba from house arrest.
Spokesperson of the Junta, Lt. Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi, who made this known in a statement read on national television on Wednesday evening, said Bongo is free to leave the country for medical treatment.
“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic, Ali Bongo Ondimba, is free to move about. He may, if he wishes, travel abroad for medical checkups,” he said.
General Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of the elite Republican Guard, on Wednesday, August 30, led officers in a coup against President Ondimba, the scion of a family that had ruled for 56 years.
His ousting came just moments after Bongo, 64, was declared winner of a disputed presidential election − a result branded a fraud by the opposition.
Nguema, who is Bongo’s cousin, served as a bodyguard to Bongo’s late father and also headed the country’s republican guard, an elite military unit.
Brice Nguema was sworn in as the Transitional President of Gabon on Monday, September 4th.
