Ali Bongo, the former president of Gabon who was overthrown in a coup, is free to leave the nation and travel abroad, according to the coup’s leader, who made the announcement on Wednesday.
“He has freedom of movement… and can travel abroad if he wishes,” general Brice Oligui Nguema said in a statement read on state television.
Since the military takeover on August 30, which occurred without any loss of life and less than an hour after Bongo’s party declared his reelection in a ballot that the putschists deemed fraudulent, Bongo, who had been in power for 14 years, had been placed under house arrest.
“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.
In October 2018, Bongo experienced a severe stroke that left him physically disabled, with particular difficulties using his right arm and leg.
Following his father Omar, who controlled the nation for about 41 years and developed a reputation for kleptocracy and iron fisted governance, Bongo became office in 2009.
He was re-elected in 2016 amid fierce controversy, but two years later he had a stroke that made it harder for him to maintain control.
According to the officially contested results, Ondo Ossa received 30.77 percent of the vote, while Bongo received 64.27 percent.
Ondo Ossa pushed Oligui to leave immediately after the coup, claiming that although he had won the elections, the outcome had been “cancelled” by the military takeover.
Additionally, he said that Oligui and Bongo were related, and that the incident was more of a “palace revolution” that was currently maintaining the “Bongo system.”
