7th September, 2023
Ousted Gabonese president Ali Bongo is free to leave the country and travel abroad, General Brice Oligui Nguema, the leader of the coup said on Wednesday.
“He has freedom of movement… and can travel abroad if he wishes,” Nguema said in a statement read on state television.
Bongo, in power for 14 years, had been under house arrest since the bloodless military coup of August 30.
The coup came less than an hour after his party proclaimed his re-election in a vote described as fraudulent by the putschists.
“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.
Manfoumbi read a press release signed by Oligui, who took his oath as transitional president on Monday.
Bongo suffered a serious stroke in October 2018 which left him physically impaired, with particular difficulty moving his right leg and arm.