Gabon Military Junta Releases Ousted President Ali Bongo From House Detainees

President Gabon Ali Bongo Odimba. (Wikimedia Commons/Foreign and Commonwealth Office)

JAKARTA - Gabon's military junta announced it had released ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who was previously under house arrest after last week's coup.

Ali Bongo is now free to travel abroad for medical treatment, said Gabon's new military leaders.

"If he wants, he can go abroad for a health check," Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi, a transition committee spokesman, told state television.

Bongo's health status is unclear, although he suffered a stroke in 2018 which left him unable to work for months.

Meanwhile, local television Gabon24 broadcast a meeting on Wednesday night between Bongo and the Head of the United Nations Office for Central Africa Abdou Barry.

"I found him in good health," said Barry.

Bongo, 64, was ousted from office shortly after he was declared the winner of a disputed election that would extend his family's 55-year term of government. Bongo himself replaced his father in 2009.

Separately, Gabon's new military leader, General Brice Clotaire Oligai Nguema, met with regional and local authorities this week, promising better infrastructure and a peaceful transition for citizens in the oil-rich Central African country.

"Our discussions focus on the current situation of our country and the promising transition prospects," Nguema wrote of his meeting with Barry on Twitter.

However, concerns remain regarding the takeover of power by the military. The new military leader in Gabon promised to return power to the people by holding free, transparent and credible elections, but did not give a transition date.

At this week's meeting of General Nguema with senior Gabon government officials, he promised to provide "real development" to people whose oil wealth looks concentrated in the hands of a handful of people.

"We want simple things for the people of Gabon," he said on television, promising national health services and improving education and environmental policies.

"But to achieve this, first you have to have an effective government," he concluded