Deposed President is ‘freed’: Gabon’s junta

Libreville: Gabon’s ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been under house arrest since he was deposed last week, is free on Thursday and can embark on a medical trip, the country’s new military leaders said.

Ondimba is “free to move given his state of health,” Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi, spokesman for the transition committee, said on state television a day earlier.

“He can, if he wishes, go abroad to carry out his medical checks.”

The ousted president’s health was not immediately clear. He had suffered a stroke in late 2018 that kept him from his duties for months.

Local television Gabon24 broadcast a meeting late Wednesday between Ondimba and Abdou Barry, head of the UN Office for Central Africa.

“I found him in good health,” Barry said on his meeting with the ousted president.

The 64-year-old was on August 30 toppled from power amid a resurgence of coups in parts of Africa and shortly after he was declared the winner of a disputed election that would have extended his family’s 55-year reign.

He succeeded his father in 2009.

Meanwhile, the newly sworn-in military leader in Gabon, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, met with regional and local authorities this week, promising better infrastructure and a peaceful transition to citizens in the oil-rich Central

African nation.