Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was deposed as president of Gabon final week in a coup that ended his household’s decades-long grip on energy within the central African nation, is now not topic to deal with arrest and is free to depart the nation, the ruling army junta has stated.
Mr. Bongo’s well being has lengthy been a priority after he suffered a stroke 5 years in the past and was usually seen strolling with a cane. The army stated in an announcement learn on nationwide tv on Wednesday night time that he can be allowed to journey abroad for medical care.
The announcement from the army got here two days after the chief of the coup, Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, a cousin of the ousted chief and the top of the elite Republican Guard that was tasked with guarding him, was sworn in as Gabon’s new chief.
After taking oath on Monday, General Nguema promised to carry free and honest elections however didn’t point out when or how they might happen.
The army has additionally detained members of Mr. Bongo’s household together with a number of senior advisers on prices together with corruption, embezzlement and treason. Mr. Bongo was faraway from energy in late August, simply hours after being re-elected for a 3rd time period in a vote that was disputed by opposition teams.
It was not instantly clear the place the detainees had been or if they might be tried quickly, however for the second, Mr. Bongo seems to have been granted some freedom.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Bongo met with Abdou Abarry, the top of the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa, at his residence within the capital, Libreville.
“Given his state of health, former president of the republic Ali Bongo Ondimba is free to move about,” Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi, the spokesman for the transition committee, stated. “He may, if he so wishes, travel abroad to undergo medical checkups.”
The coup in Gabon was the most recent in a collection of army takeovers throughout Africa, afflicting nations suffering from insecurity, corruption and the rising ranks of annoyed youth.
Over the previous three years, no less than 9 coups have rattled nations in Africa, from Sudan within the northeast to Mali and Burkina Faso within the west and Chad in central Africa. The occasions in Gabon had been most just lately preceded by a coup in late July in Niger, the place the army ousted and arrested Mohamed Bazoum, the nation’s democratically elected president.
Mr. Bongo got here to energy in 2009 after the dying of his father, Omar, who dominated the oil-rich nation for greater than 4 many years. An avid musician, Mr. Bongo positioned himself as an environmental crusader and gained accolades for preserving the rainforests that cowl 90 p.c of Gabon.
The newest coup was obtained with widespread condemnation outdoors Gabon, together with from the African Union, which suspended the nation’s membership. Mr. Bongo additionally appeared in a video calling for his “friends all over the world” to “make noise” concerning the army takeover.
But there was appreciable discontentment together with his rule at residence, the place the nation’s greater than two million individuals suffered below the yoke of poverty, rising unemployment and rising meals costs. In 2019, the authorities quashed an effort to grab energy when a gaggle of troopers took over the state radio station and urged individuals to revolt towards the president.
Some civilians throughout Gabon welcomed the removing of Mr. Bongo from energy and hoped it could herald a brand new period for the nation. Many others took to the streets this week to welcome the army’s launch of political prisoners who had been jailed throughout his presidency.
“Why are they letting him go?” Danny Ndong, a 36-year-old banker in Libreville, stated, including, “Who will now answer for the way the country was run in the past?”
Yann Leyimangoye contributed reporting from Libreville, Gabon.
Source: www.nytimes.com