The Gabonese military junta has released ousted President Ali Bongo from detention.

In a communique on state TV on Wednesday evening, military spokesperson Col Ulrich Manfoumbi said the decision to free Bongo was due to “his state of health”

The junta said he is now free to leave the country for medical treatment.

“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 for medical checkups”,  he said.

General Brice Oligui Nguema, the head of the elite Republican Guard, on Wednesday,  August 30th led officers in a coup against President Ondimba, scion of a family that had ruled for 56years. 

His ousting came just moments after Bongo, 64, was declared winner of a disputed presidential election − a result branded a fraud by the opposition.

Nguema who is Bongo’s cousin, served as a bodyguard to Bongo’s late father and also headed the country’s republican guard, an elite military unit.

Brice Nguema was sworn in as Transitional President of Garbon on Monday, September 4th.