Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba (née Sassou Nguesso; March 10, 1964 – March 14, 2009) was the

First Lady of Gabon First Lady or First Gentleman of Gabon is the title held by the spouse of the president of Gabon. The current first lady is Zita Nyangue Oligui Nguema, wife of Brice Oligui, the Transitional President of Gabon. First ladies of Gabon References ...

as the wife of President

Omar Bongo Omar Bongo Ondimba (born Albert-Bernard Bongo; 30 December 1935 – 8 June 2009) was a Gabonese politician who was the second president of Gabon from 1967 until Death and state funeral of Omar Bongo, his death in 2009. A member of the Gabonese De ...

from 1989 to 2009. She was part of the Bongo family.

Biography

Édith Lucie Bongo Ondimba was born March 10, 1964. Her father was

Denis Sassou Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer who has served as president of the Republic of the Congo since 1997. He also previously served as president from 1979 to 1992. Sassou Nguesso he ...

, who later served as the President of the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

(1979–1992 and 1997 to date). Her marriage to President Bongo on August 4, 1989, was viewed politically as an example of cooperation between the two countries, according to ''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''. She was a medical doctor by education, a pediatrician, with

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

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.

Later life and death

In 2009, she was hospitalized in

Rabat, Morocco Rabat (, also , ; ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital city of the Rabat-Salé ...

. 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. After the state funeral in

Libreville, Gabon Libreville (; ) is the capital and largest city of Gabon, located on the Gabon Estuary. Libreville occupies of the northwestern province of Estuaire. Libreville is also a port on the Gabon Estuary, near the Gulf of Guinea. As of the 2013 cens ...

, 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 by Presidents Bongo, Sassou Nguesso, and by the presidents of Benin, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Togo. 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. President Bongo died a month later on 8 June 2009, nearly three months after Edith's death, at a clinic in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bongo, Edith 1964 births 2009 deaths Gabonese women physicians First ladies and gentlemen of Gabon Gabonese people of Republic of the Congo descent Republic of the Congo women physicians Children of presidents Gabonese physicians Pediatricians 21st-century Gabonese people 21st-century Gabonese women Bongo family