+ GMT Select Your Local Time London GMT Johannesburg Lagos Cairo Accra Mogadishu Abuja Cape Town Free Town Addis Ababa Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Australia Sydney Austria Bahrain Bangladesh Belgium Brazil East Brazil West Canada Toronto Canada Pacific China Beijing Cuba Cyprus Denmark Egypt Ethiopia Finland France Germany Ghana Greece Hon Kong Hungary India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kenya Korea (Rep. of) Kuwait Lebanon Liberia Libya Luxemburg Malaysia Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Mexico City Morocco Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Paraguay Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Moscow Russia Vladivostok Saudi Arabia Senegal Sierra Leone Singapore South Africa Spain Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad And Tobago Tunisia Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA Washington USA San Francisco USA New York USA Hawaii Venezuela Yemen Zaire Kinshasa Zaire Katanga Zambia Zimbabwe STO
[Pacific Sighting] See Makkah Clock
EsinIslam
Web
Site Explore
Exclusive Search
Broadcasters
Helping Shops
Home | Explore | Broadcasters | Media | Donations | About Us | Contact | Fatwa | Our Sheikh
Save
Bongo's Death Shacks Cabinet: Sarkozy To Attend Late President Memorial
14 June 2009
Libreville - Gabon's Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong and his government could be about to resign on Saturday following a constitutional court ruling, a government source said. After interim president Rose Francine Rogombe had raised the issue with the constitutional court, it ruled late on Friday that the government's functions had ceased automatically when the new president had been sworn in. The text of the court's ruling was published on Saturday in the semi-official newspaper L'Union. After Ndong attended a service at the presidential palace in honour of the late president Omar Bongo Ondimba on Saturday evening, talks continued over the future of the government, said the government source. "There are negotiations. It could happen this evening, overnight or Monday," the source added, saying a reshuffle at the top was likely. Another source close to the presidency told AFP: "The prime minister prepared his letter of resignation on Friday evening and is waiting for the right moment to present it to the president." This source also stressed that the resignation was imminent. For L'Union, the court's ruling was designed to remove any doubts about the legitimacy of the government, which had not been appointed by the acting president, said the newspaper. One legal specialist said: "It is possible, even probable given the circumstances and in the interests of stability, that the president reappoints the prime minister, which would thus legitimise him in his office. "But she can also call on the prime minister to form a restricted government," or even nominate someone else to the post, the specialist added. At a cabinet meeting on Friday, Rogombe asked the government to come up with a timetable for the organisation of the presidential election at its next meeting, after Bongo is buried on Thursday. But on Friday Ndong had said that his resignation had not been on the agenda. One source close to the prime minister had said that although Ndong had considered the option of resigning on Thursday, he had been talked out of it. Thousands of Gabonese meanwhile are continuing to file past the coffin of the former president, who is lying in state in the chapel at the presidential palace. Foreign delegations will arrive as early as Tuesday. The city of Libreville was calm on Saturday and workers were busy building the stands ahead of a police and military parade scheduled for Tuesday. Bongo will be buried in his native region of Haut-Ogooue, in the southeast of the country. - Sapa-AFP Sarkozy will attend Bongo memorial President Nicolas Sarkozy will travel to Libreville to attend the funeral of Gabon's late president Omar Bongo Ondimba on Tuesday, the French leader's office said. Bongo died on Monday aged 73 in a clinic in the Spanish city of Barcelona. His remains were flown back on Thursday to his homeland, which has declared a month-long period of mourning. During more than four decades in power, Bongo maintained close ties with Paris, outlasting a string of French presidents from Charles de Gaulle to Socialist Francois Mitterand and Sarkozy's predecessor Jacques Chirac. Tensions appeared when Sarkozy promised to revamp France's traditional ties with African countries and a French probe into corruption had further unsettled the cozy relationship between Paris and Libreville. But Sarkozy paid tribute to Bongo as a loyal friend of France and has said Paris stands by its former colony, which hosts a French military base, in the wake of his death.
EsinIslam.Com
Sign In Password