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SAUDI-DIPLOMACY-GABON
Gabon president hospitalised in Riyadh: Saudi media
RIYADH, Oct 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Gabonese President Ali Bongo has been
hospitalised in Riyadh, Saudi state media said, without giving more details.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Bongo in Riyadh’s King
Faisal hospital and “inquired after the health of the president”, the
official Saudi Press Agency said in a brief dispatch on Thursday.
Bongo, 59, was scheduled to appear Wednesday on a panel at the flagship
Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh, but he was not seen during the
discussion and organisers of the conference offered no explanation.
But in a separate dispatch, SPA said Bongo attended a speech by Prince
Mohammed at the conference later Wednesday.
Gabon’s presidency appeared to downplay the development, telling AFP it was
“nothing serious” and that Bongo was tired.
Bongo took over as leader of the oil-rich equatorial African nation in
2009 on the death of his father Omar Bongo, who had ruled since 1967.
In 2012, Ali Bongo was re-elected by just a few thousand votes in
controversial presidential polls.
BSS/AFP/RY/1835 hrs