Sunday, June 7, 2009 - 22:21
AFP News Briefs ListGabon President Omar Bongo dies: French government source
Africa's longest-serving ruler, Gabon President Omar Bongo Ondimba, who was being treated for an illness in a Spanish clinic, has died aged 73, a French government source said Sunday.
Bongo, who has led the former French colony in west-central Africa since 1967, had officially been in a clinic in Barcelona for medical check-up but several sources said he was being treated for cancer.
"He was a great figure of Africa," a "man who had influence," said French Defence Minister Herve Morin when informed of the report by French television.
Bongo first entered the Gabonese government in 1965 and became vice president in 1967.
He built a powerful dynasty in the country which has benefited from the discovery of oil, although much of the wealth is concentrated in a small proportion of the 1.5 million population.
The president's wife, Edith Lucie Bongo Odimba, daughter of Congo President Nguesso, died in Morocco in March at the age of 45 after a long illness.
Images
Africa's longest-serving ruler, Gabon President Omar Bongo Ondimba, pictured in 2007, who was being treated for an illness in a Spanish clinic, has died aged 73, a French government source said Sunday.
© 2007 AFP Eric Feferberg
© 2007 AFP Eric Feferberg