Gabon’s President Bongo Returns to Morocco After Brief 48-Hour Visit Home

Paris Match, picking up on the information published by AFP on Friday, writes on the subject: "Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who returned to Gabon in the night from Sunday to Monday, left 48 hours later for Morocco where he has been convalescing for three months after a stroke, according to a source close to the presidency."

Ali Bongo is said to have left the Gabonese capital in the evening of Tuesday, heading for the kingdom. Immediately after the cabinet meeting he chaired there, according to the same source. His first since October. This was an opportunity for him to appoint hundreds of people to various positions and dismiss several, including a notable dismissal, that of Park Sang-Chul, his private security chief for over three decades. This says a lot...

Paris Match reveals something else: "His 48-hour return will also have been an opportunity for him to circulate in certain neighborhoods of Libreville, where he greeted onlookers from the window of his car. No media had been invited to the event, which was reported by videos filmed by close associates of the presidency."

Let us recall that the Gabonese president had to be hospitalized following a stroke he suffered on October 24. He had only returned once to Libreville since then, on January 15, and just as briefly, this time to administer the oath of office to the ministers of the new government.

Paris Match concludes its article by: "In January, an attempted coup took place in Libreville to denounce the president’s absence and seek to establish a ’democratic transition’."

Short visits to Gabon, dismissal of the security chief, attempted coup, a quick car ride (without getting out) in the city... Is Ali Bongo no longer safe in Gabon?