Ousted Gabon president heads to Angola with family
File Photo: Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba arriving for the second day of a European Union (EU) African Union (AU) summit at The European Council Building in Brussels, Belgium on Feb. 18, 2022.
Luanda, May 16, 2025 (Reuters/CrestNewsOnline) Gabon’s ousted former president Ali Bongo has flown to Angola with his wife and son, Angola’s presidency said on Friday.
Presidency spokesperson Luis Fernando said the family were welcomed “for humanitarian reasons”.
.”They will then decide what they want to do. In other words, which country they want to go and live in as exiles,” he added.
The presidency posted photos it said showed Bongo arriving at Luanda airport, 700 miles (1,100 kilometres) down Africa’s western coast from Gabon’s capital on Thursday night.
It said the family had been freed after diplomatic representations from Angola.
Ali’s wife, Sylvia, 62, and son Noureddin, 33, were taken into custody shortly after the August 2023 coup and accused of crimes including embezzlement and money laundering.
They were transferred to house arrest on May 9, two sources familiar with the case said.
However, Noureddin had been freed almost two years after being detained following a coup,
They had most recently been held in basement cells in the presidential palace in Libreville, one of the sources said.
Ali Bongo, now 66, was initially placed under house arrest after the coup, though officials later said he was free to move as he wished.
His supporters however said that was untrue.
Family lawyer Francois Zimeray nonetheless confirmed their release.
“Sylvia and Noureddin Bongo will finally be able to turn the page, heal and rebuild.
“We will like to thank all those who, in one way or another, played a part in this outcome,” he said.
“This release is the fruit of long judicial and diplomatic efforts.”
African Union (AU) officials had called for the release of Bongo’s wife and son last month.
Their supporters have said they were tortured in custody, though coup leader Brice Oligui Nguema, now serving as president, has denied that.
Gabon’s communications minister, Paul-Marie Gondjout, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nguema was sworn in for a seven-year term as president this month after winning an election with nearly 95% of the vote.
Bongo had ruled Gabon since 2009, taking over from his father, who died after more than four decades in office.
