Gabon’s military junta has named a former prime minister, Raymond Ndong Sima, as the country’s new interim prime minister, it said in a statement broadcast on national television on Thursday.
Sima, a 68-year-old economist, was an outspoken critic of President Ali Bongo, who was ousted by military officers on Aug. 30. He served as Bongo’s prime minister from 2012 to 2014, then resigned and ran against him for president in 2016 and again as part of an opposition coalition this year.
,Gabon’s junta leader, General Brice Oligui Nguema, has already been sworn in as interim president following the ouster of Ali Bongo. Nguema has also addressed the nation for the first time.
Meanwhile,The military leaders who staged a coup in Gabon have freed ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba and he is now allowed to travel abroad, a junta spokesperson said Wednesday.
“Given his state of health, the former President of the Republic Ali Bongo Ondimba is free to move about. He may, if he wishes, travel abroad to receive medical check-ups,” junta spokesperson Col. Ulrich Manfoumbi said on state television, reading a statement from transitional leader Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema.
