Gabon's military says deposed ex-president Ali Bongo released, ‘free to travel abroad'

Gabon's deposed President Ali Bongo Ondimba has been released from house arrest, and he's allowed to travel overseas for medical treatment, the country's military leader who was sworn in as the head of state, Brice Oligui Nguema said in a statement on state Television. Bongo was removed from power and was held under house arrest since a military coup on August 30.

Gabon's democratically elected government was toppled by the Junta shortly after Bongo was declared the winner of much-criticised elections last month. His victory would have extended his 14-year tenure as the head of the state and his family's 5 decades of rule. The ousted president's bail was signed by General Nguema himself, who is also the cousin of the deposed leader. Bongo assumed power in 2009 and served two terms since the death of his father who ruled the country for over 41 years. 

“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba is free to move about. He may, if he wishes, travel abroad for medical checkups,” Gabon’s military spokesman Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi said in a statement on September 7. 

Gen. Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace last month in the presence of government officials, and military and local leaders in Gabon’s capital, Libreville. He served as the bodyguard to his late father and is head of the country's elite military unit—the Republican Guard. As his mutinous soldiers organised the coup and removed Bongo, Gen. Nguema vowed that the "new government, which is made up of experienced people, is going to give everyone a chance to hope."

Screengrab shows soldiers holding General Brice Clothaire Oligui Nguema aloft in Libreville, Gabon. Credit: AP

Coup, a 'palace revolution'? 

Soldiers accused Bongo of irregularities in the governance and a lack of transparency to the public. As Nguema consolidated power, he pledged legitimacy, and prospects of rewriting the constitution and electoral code. His supporters didn't view the removal of Bongo's administration as a coup but labelled it as a  “palace revolution” that brought an end to President Bongo's family’s reign.

As he was sworn in last week, Nguema promised that the Central African country would return power to the people by organizing free, transparent and credible elections. He told people that his soldiers seized power without bloodshed. At least nine members of the Bongo family face preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, and are under investigation in France, according to Sherpa, a French NGO.