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Gabon Court Rejects Medical Exam to See If Bongo Fit to Rule

Gabon Court Rejects Medical Exam to See If Bongo Fit to Rule

(Bloomberg) -- A request for an independent medical exam to determine whether Gabon’s President Ali Bongo is fit to rule after suffering a stroke last year was dismissed by a trial court in the capital Libreville this week, according to court documents.

Gabon Court Rejects Medical Exam to See If Bongo Fit to Rule

Ten members of the opposition had signed the request for a neurologist to examine Bong, 60, who returned to Gabon in March after spending over five months recovering abroad. Only a majority of either the government or the parliament’s two chambers can request the Constitutional Court to call for a vacancy of power, the ruling said.

Bongo fell ill while attending an investment summit in Saudi Arabia in October last year. He was then transferred to Morocco, where he spent months recovering. He’s made only a few public appearances since his return to the country on March 23. Bongo’s doctors expect him to make a full recovery even though he is convalescing slowly, a person close to the matter told Bloomberg in February.

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: Chakradhar Adusumilli at cadusumilli@bloomberg.net, Polina Noskova

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