/ 8 June 2009

Gabon leader Bongo has died, says PM

Gabon’s President, Omar Bongo Ondimba, Africa’s longest-serving leader, died on Monday afternoon in a clinic in Barcelona, the country’s prime minister said in a written statement.

“At 2.30pm [local time], the medical team informed me, as well as the officials and members of the family present, that the president of the republic, head of state, Omar Bongo Ondimba, had just passed away following a heart attack,” said the statement from Jean Eyeghe Ndong.

The statement was handed to journalists at the Quiron clinic in Barcelona, where the 73-year-old Bongo, who has ruled Gabon for 41 years, was admitted early last month.

“We knew that the health of the president had become a source of concern in recent days,” Ndong said.

He said the country would observe a 30-day period of mourning from Monday, in which all flags would be flown at half-mast. Funeral arrangements would be announced later.

He called on the Gabonese people to “remain united and stand together in contemplation and dignity”.

Gabon’s government had previously insisted he was undergoing a medical check-up, but several sources said he was being treated for intestinal cancer, which they said had reached an advanced stage.

Bongo announced on May 6 that he was temporarily suspending his duties in order to rest and mourn the death in March of his wife, Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the daughter of Congo President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.

Bongo came to power with French support and ruled over a state that stuffed its coffers with profits from its abundant oil wealth, while most of the 1,5-million population remained poor. — AFP