Edith Lucie Bongo

Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba (March 10, 1964 – March 14, 2009) was the First Lady of Gabon as the wife of President Omar Bongo from 1989 to 2009.

Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba
First Lady of Gabon
In role
August 4, 1989 – March 14, 2009
PresidentOmar Bongo
Preceded byPatience Dabany (as Omar Bongo's first wife)
Succeeded bySylvia Ajma Valentin
Personal details
Born(1964-03-10)March 10, 1964
Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
DiedMarch 14, 2009(2009-03-14) (aged 45)
Rabat, Morocco
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Omar Bongo (1989–2009)
ChildrenTwo
OccupationPhysician

Biography

Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was born March 10, 1964. She was the daughter of Republic of the Congo President, Denis Sassou Nguesso. Her marriage to President Bongo on August 4, 1989, was reportedly viewed politically as an example of cooperation between the two countries, according to Reuters.[1]

She was a medical doctor by education, a pediatrician, with HIV/AIDS as one of her main focuses. She helped create a forum for African first ladies to fight AIDS and founded associations for vulnerable children and people with disabilities.[2]

Later life and death

In 2009, she was hospitalized in Rabat, Morocco. On March 14, 2009, she died at the hospital, four days after her 45th birthday. The statement announcing her death specified neither the cause of death nor the nature of her illness. She had not appeared in public for around three years preceding her death.[1] After the state funeral in Libreville, Gabon, Édith Bongo's remains were taken to Edu, her father's home village in northern Congo for a traditional Mbochi tribal burial in the family cemetery there on March 20, 2009. The burial, nationally televised in Gabon and Congo, was attended Presidents Bongo, Sassou Nguesso, and by the presidents of Benin, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Togo.[3]

Following her death, it was announced on Gabonese television on 6 May 2009 that Omar Bongo was "temporarily suspending his activities" as President in order to "regain strength and rest". The announcement stressed that Bongo had been deeply affected by the illness and death of his wife.[4] President Bongo died a month later on 8 June 2009, nearly three months after Edith's death, at a clinic in Barcelona, Spain.[5]

References
  1. "Wife of Gabon's President Bongo dies". Reuters. 15 March 2009. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  2. "Edith Bongo pictures" (PDF). Gabon Magazine. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  3. "Gabonese first lady buried in Congo". AllAfrica. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  4. "Gabon's Bongo temporarily stands down". Associated Press. 6 May 2009. Archived from the original on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  5. "Gabon's leader is confirmed dead". BBC News. 2009-06-08. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
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