Ali Bongo free from house arrest

The military that overthrew Ali Bongo Ondimba as president of Gabon last month has announced that he has been released from house detention and is free to travel abroad for medical care.

The 14-year presidency of Bongo, who was removed from office on August 30 after being declared the victor of widely criticised elections, would have been extended.

“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 checkups,” Gabon’s military spokesman Colonel Ulrich Manfoumbi said in a statement read on national television on Wednesday evening.

According to Aljazeera, General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who was inaugurated as Gabon's new president on Monday, signed the proclamation confirming Bongo's release from house arrest.

Oligui, Bongo's cousin, was Bongo's late father's bodyguard and served as the commander of the nation's elite republican guard.

From Dakar, Senegal, Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque reported that Bongo now has the choice to leave the nation if he so chooses.

Since his stroke five years ago, Bongo hasn't had access to his own doctors, according to Haque.

“For his family, it’s another issue. His wife was held on the fourth floor of the presidential palace with his son Noureddin. All of them are accused of high treason,” Haque said.

Additionally, Haque continued, the suspected of stealing money from state coffers would have to stand trial, according to the nation's new leader Nguema.

On Monday, Nguema took the oath of office at the presidential palace and declared that the military had peacefully taken over the government and would hand it back to the people through the holding of fair elections.

Although the African Union and the international community have condemned the coup, the public in Gabon has applauded it.

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