Gabon President Omar Bongo Dies

(LIBREVILLE, Gabon) — Gabon President Omar Bongo, the world's longest-serving president whose 42-year rule was a throwback to an era when Africa was ruled by "Big Men," has died of cardiac arrest in a Spanish hospital. He was 73.

Gabon's government responded by announcing the closure of the country's international airport and all of its land and sea borders, and the mood in Libreville, the capital, appeared tense, as security forces fanned out and took positions in front of key government buildings and important electrical installations. People rushing to get home as soon as the news was announced caused huge traffic jams. Some residents could be seen hurrying home with rice bags, apparently to stockpile food in advance of possible store closures. (Read "The Enrichment of Africa's French Allies".)

In Spain, doctors at the Quiron Clinic in Barcelona announced Bongo's death around 8:30 a.m. Monday, Gabonese Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong said. Bongo was admitted to the hospital last month.

Only hours earlier, Ndong had said he saw the president and declared him "alive and well." Gabonese officials have become increasingly belligerent with journalists, including calling a meeting with the French ambassador in Gabon in order to discuss the coverage of the president's death by French media outlets.

Bongo, who was believed to be one of the world's wealthiest leaders, became the longest-ruling head of government — a category that does not include the monarchs of Britain and Thailand — when Cuba's Fidel Castro handed power to his brother last year.