Gabon’s former president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, has been released from house arrest by the military, which ousted him from power just last month.
Bongo had been under house arrest since August 30, following his disputed victory in elections that would have extended his 14-year rule.
“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.
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Bongo, who suffered a stroke five years ago, had not been able to access his personal doctors, as reported by Al Jazeera’s Nicolas Haque from Dakar, Senegal.
General Oligui, after taking the oath of office in the presidential palace on Monday, emphasized that the military had taken control of the country without resorting to violence and vowed to return power to the people by organizing credible and free elections.
While the coup has found support among the Gabonese public, it has drawn criticism from the African Union and the international community.