Leader of Gabon Allows Ousted President to Leave Country Due to Health Condition
09:52 07.09.2023 (Updated: 09:53 07.09.2023)
© AFP 2024 JULIEN DE ROSAGabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba arrives for the 75th anniversary celebrations of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on November 12, 2021. A group of Gabonese military officers appeared on television on August 30, 2023 announcing they were "putting an end to the current regime" and scrapping official election results that had handed another term to veteran President Ali Bongo Ondimba.
During the announcement, AFP journalists heard gunfire ring out in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.
© AFP 2024 JULIEN DE ROSA
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MOSCOW, (Sputnik) – Gabon saw a military coup on August 30 in which the armed forces ousted recently re-elected President Ali Bongo Ondimba and proclaimed General Brice Oligui Nguema, head of the Republican Guard, as interim leader.
Gabon's rebel-appointed leader and transitional president, Gen. Brice Oligie Nguema allowed ousted Gabonese President Ali Bongo to travel abroad, given his health condition.
"Given the health condition of the former President of the Republic, Ali Bongo has the freedom of movement. If he wants to, he can travel abroad for medical control," a spokesman of rebels said, citing Nguema's statement.
On August 30, the military in Gabon announced the dissolution of the institutions of power and the cancellation of the results of the elections in which, according to the reports, Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been president since 2009, won. Later, the military promised that they would gradually create transitional institutions, while Gabon would fulfill all its domestic and international obligations.
General Brice Oligie Nguema also promised to reorganize the state institutions of power and make them more democratic.