The recently ousted Gabon’s former president, Ali Bongo, is free to leave the country and travel abroad, the leader of the coup that toppled him said on Wednesday.
Bongo, in power for 14 years, had been under house arrest since the military coup of August 30, carried out without bloodshed less than an hour after his party proclaimed his re-election in a vote described as fraudulent by the putschists.
However Bongo has been suffering from a serious stroke since October 2018 which has now left him physically impaired, with particular difficulty moving his right leg and arm.
“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba has freedom of movement.
“He has freedom of movement… and can travel abroad if he wishes,” General Brice Oligui Nguema said in a statement read on state television.
“He can travel abroad if he wishes to carry out his medical checks,” Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi Manfoumbi said, reading a press release signed by Oligui who took his oath as transitional president on Monday.
According to a statement, the former President has since been released and allowed to seek medical treatment anywhere in the world.
