Gabon: After the coup, Ali Bongo Ondimba finally breaks his silence

More than a year after being overthrown in a coup d’état, the former Gabonese president published a handwritten open letter on Thursday, September 19, 2024, through his lawyers. In this document, the deposed president calls for the release of his wife Sylvia and his son Nourredin, detained for a year in Libreville central prison, and urges an end to the violence targeting them.

In this two-page letter, Ali Bongo appeals to his country, its leaders and his fellow citizens not to let themselves be carried away by vengeance against his family. He pleads “for appeasement, the cessation of violence and torture inflicted on my family, in particular my wife Sylvia and my son Nourredin, and their release”.

In fact, he emphasizes that his wife and son are “detained for too long for acts of which they have not been found guilty, made scapegoats for a situation which goes far beyond their own person.” As for his own situation, Ali Bongo indicates that he is not “free to move” and that it is “subject to daily surveillance”. It is said “isolated from the outside world, without communications and without news from my family”.

The former president says he wants to take sole responsibility for his record, acknowledging the successes of his mandate, but also his “shortcomings”He expressed his regret that, despite the progress made, many Gabonese people continue to suffer.

Furthermore, Ali Bongo expressed his understanding of the citizens’ desire to see new political leaders emerge and reaffirmed his definitive renunciation of any national ambition, specifying that this also applies to Sylvia and Nourredin.