GABON: PRESIDENT BONGO, SERIOUSLY ILL, "SUSPENDS"

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LIBREVILLE 000195

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2019
TAGS: PGOV GB ASEC
SUBJECT: GABON: PRESIDENT BONGO, SERIOUSLY ILL, "SUSPENDS"
ACTIVITIES

REF: LIBREVILLE 0179

Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) Gabonese President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, who we
believe was hospitalized on May 4, was discharged on the
night of May 6-7 but remains gravely ill, according to
well-informed medical sources. Informed speculation is that
the president may be suffering from some form of cancer,
complicating pre-existing diabetes. Hours before he was
discharged, a presidential spokesman announced that Bongo had
temporarily "suspended" his activities. The statement cited
the president's need for rest and recuperation following the
March 14 death of his wife Edith. Bongo has made no public
appearance in over a month. He has ruled Gabon since 1967
and is the world's longest-serving elected president. End
Summary.

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President Hospitalized
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2. (C) Bongo was hospitalized on an emergency basis at a
private Libreville clinic on May 4, according to sources at
the clinic. While at the clinic, he apparently received
radiological treatments consistent with treatment for some
form of cancer. The president was also given analgesics for
pain relief. The director of the clinic's intensive care
unit (ICU) was called in to assist Bongo's private medical
team during the most recent hospitalization, the first time
ICU services have been required. Bongo's most recent
hospitalizations at the same clinic have apparently not been
on an emergency basis (Reftel).


3. (C) Bongo was discharged on the night of May 6-7,
according to medical sources. The same sources assert that
there is ongoing evaluation of whether the president should
be flown out of the country for additional medical care.
Separately, sources close to the presidency confirm that the
president is gravely ill, and that his condition has taken a
significant turn for the worse in recent days. In the few
public photographs of the president that have been published
in the government press over the last month, he appears
noticeably frailer and thinner.

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Suspension of Activities
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4. (C) The government's spokesman appeared on Gabonese
television May 6 to announce that Bongo has temporarily
"suspended" his normal activities, and that all presidential
audiences had been suspended until further notice. Earlier
in the day, a source at the presidency said told us Bongo
would be unavailable for meetings for at least two weeks.


5. (C) The statement made no mention of Bongo's illness,
which has never been publicly acknowledged. The president
had been gravely affected by the March 14 death of his wife
Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, the statement explained, and
needed time to "regain strength and rest." Bongo had resumed
his presidential duties after his wife's death, the statement
noted, but in response to the pressing demands of his family
and others, Bongo should now be given time to observe the
traditional and longer period of mourning prescribed by
Gabonese custom.

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Who's in Charge?
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6. (U) Vice-President Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge will step
into the president's role during this period of "suspension".
In that capacity, Divungi was scheduled to preside over a
weekly council of ministers meeting May 7 before a flying to
Pretoria to attend the inauguration of South African
President Jacob Zuma. Bongo has missed at least the last
three council of ministers meetings and has not appeared in
public since April 7. The traditional Worker's Day parade on
May 1 was cancelled, ostensibly in respect for Edith Bongo's
death.


7. (U) Gabon's constitution prescribes that in the event of
the president's death, the president of the Senate assumes
the presidency and must organize elections within 45 days.
Rose Francine Rogombe, a previously obscure politician who
became president of the Senate only in February, is thought
to be an ally of the president's son and Defense Minister,

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Ali Bongo Ondimba.

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Family Rivalries
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8. (C) Ali Bongo has over the last two years increasingly
consolidated his power over the country's armed forces and
sought to strengthen his position within the ruling Parti
Democratique Gabonais (PDG). Most observers believe that
with his apparent control over the armed forces, Ali Bongo
will emerge in one way or another as the PDG's candidate in
any election following the president's death, and that the
PDG candidate will prevail in the election. Gabon's
political opposition is weak and divided, with many of the
most prominent leaders co-opted into the current government.


9. (C) Ali Bongo has acknowledged an ongoing struggle within
the PDG against both old-line allies of his father (including
some senior military officials who Ali has retired or
sidelined),and younger rivals including Foreign Minister
Paul Toungui. Toungui is the long-time consort of Ali
Bongo's powerful sister Pascaline, who is also the
president's chief of staff. Together Foreign Minister
Toungui and Pascaline Bongo exert significant influence over
the finances of both the Bongo family and the Gabonese state.
Foreign Minister Toungui specifically served as finance
minister from 2002 to 2008 and is said to retain considerable
influence over government spending.


10. (C) Several of Ali Bongo's recent actions appear to
target Toungui. Many were surprised April 21 when Ali Bongo
ordered elite troops to set up roadblocks at key points in
Libreville to inspect vehicles and identify those which had
been misappropriated for personal use. Ali Bongo, who
acknowledged to the Ambassador that he had ordered the
crackdown, later stated publicly that he had identified about
300 misappropriated vehicles, many from the "financial
ministries." Ali Bongo has also complained in recent months
that both the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance
have failed to provide adequate funding for the defense
forces. It is unclear whether Ali Bongo's action was
coordinated with the office of Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe
Ndong, or why the police or gendarmerie were not utilized for
what was essentially a police operation.


11. (C) In a rare public interview following the crackdown,
Ali Bongo warned that there could be other, similar security
operations in the future. He also defended himself against
charges that he is a Nigerian orphan from the Biafran war
adopted by his parents in the mid-1960s. More strangely
still, Ali Bongo's mother Patience Dabany, a prominent
Gabonese singer and former wife of President Bongo, also
appeared on television with photos of the young Ali Bongo and
a stout, detailed explanation of the circumstances of his
natural birth in 1959 in French-ruled Brazzaville.

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French Court Case
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12. (U) Further adding to the woes of the beleaguered
president, a French court announced this wek that it would
investigate the merit of complaints by Transparency
International and other litigants against Bongo and two other
heads of state: Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Reupblic of
Congo (Brazzaville) and Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea.
French prosecutors had earlier urged the court to drop the
case. The court's action was the latest in a series of legal
maneuvers by anti-corruption activists against Bongo and
other heads of state in French courts. Though decidedly
unwelcome, the court action was believed to have no relation
to Bongo's decision to suspend his activities as president.

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EAC Meeting
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13. (C) Post's EAC met May 6 to discuss reports of the
president's failing health and review emergency procedures.
No change to post's current security posture was recommended,
but staff were advised to remain alert and report new
developments or unusual activities to post management.

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Comment
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14. (C) Anxiety is mounting in Gabon with news that
President Bongo has temporarily "suspended" his activities.
The longer he stays out of public view, the more these
concerns will grow. One well-informed physician told us that

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if Bongo is as sick as other physicians say, it may be "days,
weeks or months, but not years" before the president passes.
Gabon will then face a significant test of its constitutional
structures and its long record of relative political peace.
End Comment.
REDDICK