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GABON-BONGO-HEALTH
Gabon presidency admits leader Ali Bongo is seriously ill
LIBREVILLE, Nov 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Gabon’s presidency admitted for the
first time on Sunday that President Ali Bongo, hospitalised for nearly three
weeks in Saudi Arabia, is in a serious condition but said his health is
improving.
The 59-year-old leader was taken to hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh
on October 24 but his condition has now “greatly improved” and he is
“recovering most of his functions,” presidency spokesman Ike Ngouoni said.
Lack of official news — along with memories of the secrecy-shrouded
death of Bongo’s father Omar Bongo in 2009 — had sparked numerous rumours,
including suggestions he was incapacitated or dead.
Following discomfort and “persistent vertigo… the first tests revealed
bleeding which justified medical surgical care in a highly specialised
sector,” according to a medical bulletin from doctors treating Bongo, quoted
by Ngouoni.
Ali Bongo “was treated with appropriate and thorough support that has so
far significantly improved his general condition,” it said.
A foreign source close to Bongo and his French-born wife Sylvia told AFP
on Wednesday that Bongo had had a stroke.
– ‘Encouraging’ physical recovery –
The Bongo family has governed the oil-rich West African nation for five
decades and long maintained close ties with former colonial master France
under a system known as “Francafrique”.
Relations cooled after Ali Bongo was elected in 2009 following his
father’s death and French authorities launched a corruption investigation
into the family’s assets.
Gabon ranks 117 out of 180 on Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index.
“According to the medical team,” Bongo is “gradually beginning a very
encouraging phase of physical recovery,” Ngouoni said without specifying
Bongo’s ailment.
The “head of state continues to perform his duties” and “the
institutions of our republic are functioning perfectly in strict compliance
with the constitution,” the spokesman added.
Gabon’s official media watchdog on Friday said it had suspended a
newspaper for three months for an article saying the country was on
“autopilot” because of Bongo’s hospitalisation.
L’Aube (Dawn) newspaper had run a story headlined “Gabon on (very
dangerous) autopilot” and suggested that Prime Minister Lucie Mboussou would
be appointed interim president.
The paper’s editor, Orca Boudiandza Mouelle, was also banned from
working for six months.
– Bongo rule for decades –
Ali Bongo served as foreign and defence minister during his father’s
rule, and after his death was elected head of state in August 2009.
He was narrowly re-elected in 2016 after beating opposition challenger
Jean Ping by a few thousand votes following a presidential poll marred by
deadly violence and allegations of fraud.
The opposition claimed the vote had been rigged and demanded a recount,
which the country’s constitutional court rejected.
The country has large oil, mineral and tropical timber resources, and
its per capita national income is four times greater than that of most sub-
Saharan nations.
But about a third of its population of 1.8 million still live below the
poverty line — the result, say experts, of inequality, poor governance and
corruption.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1655 hrs