Gabonese president Bongo dies in Spain

Jun 8, 2009, 21:03 GMT

Barcelona - Gabonese President Omar Bongo, Africa's longest serving leader, died Monday at a Barcelona clinic, the West African nation's Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong announced in the north- eastern Spanish city.

Bongo died of a heart failure during the morning, the premier said in a communique, bringing to an end a rule that began in 1967.

The president was accompanied by the former French colony's parliament president, several cabinet members, representatives of the presidency and family members at the time of his passing.

Just a few hours earlier, the prime minister had denied French media reports of the death of the 73-year-old head of state.

Eyeghe Ndong said he was 'enormously surprised' by the reports and announced that Gabon would protest to the French authorities over repeated leaks to the media.

The premier said he had visited Bongo and found him alive in the morning. In his second communique, however, he said Bongo passed away at 9 am GMT.

Eyeghe 'deplored' the attitude of the French press which 'only wants to sow doubts in the spirit of the Gabonese for undesirable reasons.'

The Gabonese presidential office also initially denied the report of Bongo's death, saying he was 'continuing his holiday in Spain' following a medical check-up in Barcelona.

Ndong said that Gabon would observe 30 days of mourning and called on the Gabonese people to stand together.

Senate leader Rose Francine Rogombe, a Bongo ally, is expected to take over as interim leader until elections can be held within 45 days in line with the constitution.

Opposition leaders in the tiny oil-producing nation have, however, expressed concern that elections would not be free and fair and that Bongo's son, Ali-Ben, has already been lined up as his successor.

Africa's longest-serving head of state suspended his powers on May 6, ostensibly to mourn the death of his second wife Edith Lucie, who passed away in Rabat, Morocco, on March 14 after a long ailment.

He then checked into the clinic in Barcelona, reportedly seeking treatment for cancer.

Bongo died as the French authorities were probing whether he had used hundreds of millions of dollars of Gabonese public funds to buy lavish properties in France, where the Bongo family reportedly owns 39 such properties.

Income from Gabon's estimated output of 273,000 barrels of oil per day means it is one of Africa's wealthiest nations, but many of its 1.4 million inhabitants live in poverty.

The president was often accused of diverting oil money for his own personal use. Elf Aquitaine, the former French oil group, allegedly gave Bongo tens of millions of euros annually to allow it to extract Gabon's oil.

Bongo was viewed as one of the ultimate political survivors, who used corruption, cronyism and lashings of oil money as a tool to keep himself at the top for more than 40 years.

The president ruled virtually unchallenged during his reign, no mean feat in a part of the world where coups have long been commonplace.

Bongo took up the mantle as the world's longest-serving leader when Cuban President Fidel Castro stepped down in 2008.