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Gabon leader has stroke, sources say, govt says it's fatigue
Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba addresses a meeting on climate change at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and the Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, January 29, 2018. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri
29/10/2018
LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's President Ali Bongo was hospitalised last week in Saudi Arabia after suffering a stroke, two sources told Reuters, while Gabonese authorities said he was admitted only because of fatigue.
Bongo on Monday was still under observation at the King Faisal hospital in Riyadh where he was taken on Oct. 24. A medical and a diplomatic source both told Reuters that the president suffered a stroke.
Government spokesman Ike Ngouoni denied this and said that Bongo instead had "severe fatigue" after months of strenuous work.
The president was in Saudi Arabia to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference where he was scheduled to speak alongside other African leaders.
Bongo, whose family has ruled the central African oil producer for nearly a half century, has been president since succeeding his father Omar in 2009.
He narrowly won re-election in 2016 in a poll that the opposition claimed was marred by fraud. Mass protests broke out, during which the national parliament was gutted by fire.
(Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome, Writing by Juliette Jabkhiro, Editing by Edward McAllister, William Maclean)
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