Gabon's Ali Bongo to Hold Public Speech on Dec. 31, Adviser Says

(Bloomberg) -- Gabon President Ali Bongo plans to broadcast a speech on Dec. 31 from Morocco, where he’s recovering after suffering a stroke more than two months ago, according to a senior official.

Bongo, 59, has made only one public appearance since being rushed to hospital in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 24, in a video that showed him sitting alongside Moroccan King Mohammed VI. His illness and subsequent absence from the central African nation that’s been dominated by the same family for more than half a century has sparked widespread speculation that he’s unfit to rule.

“President Bongo will address the nation on December 31 from Morocco,” Soleman Liban, general coordinator of the Bureau of Coordination and Planning for an Emerging Gabon, said by text message Thursday. Bongo has received several Gabonese government officials during his convalescence in Rabat and has resumed work, he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Mbog Batassi in Johannesburg at embogbatassi@bloomberg.net;Katarina Hoije in Abidjan at khoije@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax

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