Rabat – Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba is expected to give a speech to the Gabonese nation on New Year’s Day from Rabat, AFP learned on Wednesday from a source close to Ali Bongo’s entourage.
Bongo has been in Rabat since November 29 recovering from a stroke.
It will be Bongo’s first speech since he was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia on October 24 after a stroke.
Bongo spent a month in a hospital in Riyadh before transferring to Rabat. He was first cared for in Rabat’s military hospital, and then moved to a private residence where he is still recovering.
Bongo’s extended absence has caused considerable uncertainty in Gabon. Three opposition parties called for Gabon to send an independent medical team to Rabat to determine whether Bongo can continue to perform his presidential duties.
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A presidential source told AFP that the 59-year-old president is following from Rabat “all the important files of the country.”
King Mohammed VI visited Bongo while he was in Rabat’s military hospital and expressed his wishes for a speedy recovery.
If Gabon determines Bongo does not have the physical and intellectual ability to perform his duties, the president of the Senate, Lucie Milebou Mboussou, would act as interim president until a presidential election which would be called within a maximum period of 60 days.
The Gabonese vice president, Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou, acknowledged in early December that Ali Bongo had suffered a stroke, according to AFP.
