DIPLOMATIC TIMES STAFF AFP news agency says the Gabonese government has confirmed President Ali Bongo’s recent bout of ill health was the result of a stroke. Gabon’s President Ali Bongo has for the first time, since his hospitalisation in Saudi Arabia last month, appeared in two videos filmed in Rabat where he is continuing treatment for an unknown illness. Bongo met with Moroccan King Mohammed VI as well as top government officials.However, his appearance continues to raise questions about the state of his health, AFP reported.

“The head of state is aware, he recognises his representatives, he sees well, he talks well,”   said Prime Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ndonget   after returning to Libreville following a meeting with Bongo in Rabat. “We were reassured and calmed coming out of this meeting,” he added.

Bongo appeared alongside King Mohammed in a video broadcast on Monday and then in another with Gabonese government officials. But the Gabonese president is only shown from a profile view of his left side, obscuring the right side of his face, and neither video contains sound, RFI reported. Gabon’s opposition has accused the government of peddling a “lie” over Bongo’s health and some have called for opposition leader Jean Ping to assume the presidency. Ping rejected the results of the 2016 election, which was mired by claims of voter fraud. The polls handed Bongo a second term in office further extending his family’s rule over the country. The 59-year-old president fell ill on 24 October during a conference in Saudi Arabia and spent one month in Riyadh receiving treatment before being transferred to Morocco.  The Gabon government initially said Bongo was ill due to “exhaustion.” Bongo has been out of the country since October seeking medical treatment – first in Saudi Arabia, followed by Morocco.  Until now, there had been no official  confirmation of the nature of Mr Bongo’s illness, just that he had been”seriously ill”.  Ali Bongo succeeded his father Omar Bongo as president in 2009, who governed the oil-rich nation for more than 40 years.