Gabon’s Military Says Deposed President Free to Travel Abroad

The military junta has said that Gabon’s deposed president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been released from house arrest and is free to leave the country for medical treatment.

Bongo, who had been held under house arrest since a military coup on August 30, was toppled from power, shortly after he was declared the winner of much-criticised elections.

Gabon’s military spokesman colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi said on Wednesday that given his state of health, the former president was free to move about, and if he wishes, travel abroad for medical checkups.

Al Jazeera said Bongo now has the option to leave the country if he decides to do so.

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“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 read on national television on Wednesday evening.

The statement announcing Bongo’s release from house arrest was signed by General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who was sworn in as Gabon’s new head of state on Monday.

Oligui is a cousin of Bongo, had served as a bodyguard to Bongo’s late father and also headed the country’s republican guard, an elite military unit.

The coup has been welcomed by members of the public in Gabon but has drawn condemnation from the African Union (UN) and the international community.