Gabon president Ali Bongo has returned to Morocco after a short visit back to his country to continue with recovery from a stroke suffered last year.
Bongo returned Gabon late Monday evening, just over a week after an attempted coup, ahead of a ceremony where a new cabinet was sworn in.
According to the president’s relatives, Bongo returned to Morocco late Tuesday after swearing in a new government.
The AP reports that a Cabinet member confirmed it.
President Bongo sought to put an end to the rumours about his health with a televised New Year message in which he said he was feeling fine.
However, from the televised footage of the ceremony it was not clear if he could walk or move his right arm.
He had been out of the country since October, and his brief return came a week after a January 7 attempted coup by officers with the Republican Guard.
The opposition has expressed concern about Bongo’s ability to lead the oil-rich Central African nation and has asked that a vacancy of power be declared.
Omar Bongo, the president’s father, led Gabon for 41 years and died in 2009.
Between the president and his father, the Bongo family have been in power for more than half a century.
