THE former president of Gabon, who was ousted in a 2023 coup, has been allowed to leave the country and has flown to Angola with his family, the Angolan president’s office said today.

The Angolan presidency posted photos on its official Facebook page of Ali Bongo Ondimba arriving in the Angolan capital, Luanda.

It said that the release of Mr Bongo, his wife and their son came after an agreement between Angolan President Joao Lourenco and new Gabon leader General Brice Oligui Nguema, who overthrew Mr Bongo nearly two years ago and was declared the winner of an election last month.

Alain-Claude Bilie-By-Nze, the former prime minister of Gabon and a spokesperson for Mr Bongo, said the Bongo family had been detained illegally and were released after “international demands.”

The African Union had called for the Bongo family’s release and President Lourenco was acting in his capacity as the chairperson of the AU when he facilitated the agreement, his office said.

Mr Bongo was placed under house arrest after the coup in August 2023, but was freed a week later due to health concerns, according to Gabon authorities. But his supporters said that his movements were still being restricted.

His wife Sylvia Bongo and son Noureddin Bongo Valentin had been detained in a prison in the capital Libreville since 2023 on money-laundering and corruption charges. 

The coup by Oligui Nguema, the former head of the country’s Republican Guard, ended 54 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon, a nation of 2.3 million people on the Atlantic coast in central Africa. 

Mr Bongo succeeded his father Omar Bongo Ondimba who was president from 1967 until his death in 2009. 

The ousted president has faced accusations of electoral fraud and corruption since he began ruling the oil-rich but poverty-stricken nation nearly 14 years ago. 

Following the coup, residents in the country’s capital were seen celebrating and embracing soldiers on the street.