Ali Bongo Ondimba is a politician and the third president of Gabon who ruled from 2009 to 2023. He was diagnosed of stroke in December 2018, was removed from power after a military coup d'etat in August 2023, and has an estimated net worth of $1 billion.
Ali Bongo Ondimba was Gabon's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1989 to 1991, a National Assembly deputy representing Bongoville from 1991 to 1999, and Minister of Defense from 1999 to 2009.
After his father's death in 2009, Ali Bongo Ondimba was elected as the president of Gabon, and in 2016, he was re-elected as president in an election marred by human rights violations, arrests, irregularities and post election protests. He was removed from the presidency on August 30, 2023, by the military in a coup d'état following the results of the general election held on August 26 in Gabon.
Ali Bongo Ondimba Biography
Early Life
Ali Bongo Ondimba, also known as Ali Ben Bongo or Ali Bongo, was born as Alain-Bernard Bongo on February 9, 1959, in Brazzaville, French Equatorial Africa (now known as Republic of the Congo or Congo Republic) to Josephine Kama (later known as Patience Dabany) and Albert-Bernard Bongo (later known as Omar Bongo Ondimba). His father, Omar Bongo, was the president of Gabon from 1967 till 2009 when he died.
Ali Bongo was born 18 months before his parents got married, and as such, there were rumours that he was an adopted son of Omar Bongo. These rumours were later dismissed by him.
Education
Ali Bongo started his education at a private school in Neuilly, France, before attending The University of Paris (metonymically known as the Sorbonne), where be studied law. He also has an honorary doctorate degree of law, which he received from Wuhan University in China.
Music Career
In 1977, Ali Bongo released a funk album titled “A Brand New Man.” The album was produced by Charles Bobbit.
Political Career
Ali Bongo started his political career by joining the Gabonese Democratic Party in 1981. In March 1983, he was elected to the party's Central Committee during its Third Extraordinary Congress. As a result of being his father's Personal Representative to the party, Ali Bongo was able to enter its Political Bureau in 1984. In September 1986, at an ordinary party congress, he was elected to the party's Political Bureau.
From 1987 to 1989, Ali Bongo held the post of High Personal Representative of the President (who also happened to be his father, Omar Bongo) of Congo Republic. At the end of his tenure as High Personal Representative of the President in 1989, Ali Bongo was appointed by him (the President) as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He however left the position after a constitutional amendment in 1991 set a minimum age of 35 for ministers. Ali Bongo was 32 years old at the time.
Following his departure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Ali Bongo became a deputy in the National Assembly, and in 1996 he became the President of the Higher Council of Islamic Affairs of Gabon.
Other positions occupied by Ali Bongo after 1996 include Minister of National Defense in 1999, vice-president of the Gabonese Democratic Party in 2003, and Minister of State in 2006. In 2008, he was re-elected as the vice-president of the Gabonese Democratic Party.
Following the death of former Gabonese president, Omar Bongo, in June 2009, a presidential election was scheduled for August 2009. Few days after the election, Ali Bongo was announced winner and the president of Gabon, receiving 42% of the total votes casted. Although the result was initially confirmed by the Constitutional Court, following allegations of fraud, the votes were recounted and it Ali Bongo was announced winner by winning 41.9% of the votes casted.
Following the presidential election held on August 26, 2023, Ali Bongo was declared winner with 64.27% of the total votes casted four days later on August 30. Minutes after the declaration of Ali Bongo as president for a second term, there was a military coup d'état and a subsequent seizure of the presidential palace in Libreville, signalling the end of Ali Bongo's reign as president.
Ali Bongo Ondimba Health
After being hospitalized in Riyadh for an undisclosed illness in October 2018 and transferred to a military hospital in Rabat the following month, it was reported in December that same year by Gabon's Vice President, Moussavou that Ali Bongo had had a stroke while being hospitalized in Riyadh.
Ali Bongo Ondimba Family
Ali Bongo is married to two wives; French-born Sylvia Valentin whom he married in 1989 and American Inge Lynn Collins Bongo whom he got married to in 1994. He also has four children; Noureddin Bongo Valentin, Malika Bongo, Jalil Bongo Ondimba and Bilal Bongo.
Ali Bongo Ondimba Net Worth
Ali Bongo has an estimated net worth of $1 billion thanks to his commercial interests and inheritance of his father's political position.
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