Gabon junta appoints new prime minister

DOUALA, Cameroon

Raymond Ndong Sima, an opponent of deposed Gabonese President Ali Bongo, was named transitional prime minister Thursday, according to a decree read on state television.

Transitional President Gen. Brice Oligui Nguema, appointed the 68-year-old economist the head of the transitional government.

Between 2012 and 2014, Ndong Sima was Bongo’s prime minister. Bongo was overthrown in a coup Aug. 30 after winning a third term.

Ndong Sima also ran against Bongo in the 2016 and 2023 presidential elections and accused him of bad governance.

He is the second opposition figure that Oligui has placed at the head of institutions, after being sworn in Monday as president of the transition. Oligui did not set a deadline for the end of the transition period, announce when free elections would take place nor the formation of a new government.

Dieudonne Aba'A Owono, a magistrate who has been with the State Council since 2022, was previously appointed president of the New Constitutional Court. He replaced Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo, who had held the post for 32 years under the Bongo regime and that of his father, Omar Bongo Odimba.

The dynasty was abolished by the military that is now in power. The military denounced bad governance and the Aug. 26 rigged presidential elections.