Gabon's presidency on Monday insisted that President Omar Bongo is alive, and condemned the French media for reporting his death. Several French media outlets reported that Bongo had died over the weekend at a hospital in Spain where he was receiving treatment. «The presidency of the Gabonese Republic would like to stress that the President of the Republic, the Head of State, His Excellency Omar Bongo is not dead. He is continuing his holiday in Spain following his checkup at the Quiron Clinic in Barcelona,» the statement said. «Ask France 24 (TV channel) to tell us when he died. We are telling you he is not dead,» Gabon's Minister of Communication Laure Olga Gondjout told The Associated Press by telephone from Libreville, the capital of Gabon. The French Foreign Ministry has denied being the source of reports on TV station France 24, as well as several other French media houses, that the president had died.
