President Ali Bongo returns to Gabon

By Alaattin Dogru

DAKAR, Senegal (AA) - Gabonese President Ali Bongo returned to his country late Sunday where he is expected to chair cabinet meeting, local media reported on Monday.

Bongo is expected to return to Morocco shortly to continue his medical treatment, according to local media.

Last November, the government announced that the Central African leader had suffered "fatigue" and "persistent vertigo" since arriving the previous month in Saudi Arabia, where he went to attend an investment event.

He left Saudi Arabia, where he had stayed for a month and received medical treatment for an apparent health disorder, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Nov. 29.

Bongo went to Morocco at the invitation of King Mohammed VI for further medical treatment. He was discharged from a hospital there on Dec. 6.

He went to Gabon last month to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new government he appointed.

A week earlier, the Gabonese government said it has quashed a coup attempt in the country.

Bongo, 59, came to power in Gabon in elections held following the death of his father, Omar Bongo, in 2009, who had ruled the country for 41 years.

For the past 50 years, the Bongo family has dominated Gabon, where a third of the population lives below the poverty line despite the country’s vast mineral wealth.