The Angolan administration announced Friday that Ali Bongo Ondimba, the former leader of Gabon, who was overthrown in a military coup in 2023 and put under house imprisonment with his family, had been freed from custody and had reached Luanda. Bongo’s release comes after talks between former junta leader Brice Oligui Nguema, the new president of Gabon, and Angolan leader Joao Lourenco.The Angolan presidency announced on Friday that former Gabon leader Ali Bongo Ondimba and his family had been freed from custody and had reached the capital of Angola.
After being overthrown in a coup in August 2023, Bongo, whose family had controlled Gabon for 55 years, has been living under house arrest in the country’s capital, Libreville.
Photos of the former leader being greeted at an airport were posted alongside a statement on the Angolan presidency’s Facebook page announcing the Bongo family’s arrival in Luanda.
It stated that the Bongo family had recently arrived in Luanda after being released.
Without providing specifics, it stated that this came after talks between Gabon’s new leader, Brice Oligui Nguema, and Angolan President Joao Lourenco.
In April, former junta leader Nguema won over 95 percent of the vote to become president.
Both Bongo’s 33-year-old son Noureddin and his 62-year-old French-born wife Sylvia were detained on suspicion of embezzling public monies.
They were recently transferred from cells at a presidential annexe to a home in Libreville, according to many Gabonese media outlets.
The Bongo dynasty’s 55-year dominance came to an end in August 2023 when a former junta leader named Nguema gained control in a coup and was sworn in early May.
