Gabon’s former president Ali Bongo Ondimba has been released from house arrest and is free to leave the country for medical treatment, the military junta that ousted him from power last month has announced. Bongo, who had been held under house arrest since a coup on August 30, was overthrown shortly after he was declared the winner of disputed 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 check-ups,” Gabon’s military spokesman Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi said in a statement read on national television on Wednesday evening.