According to official sources, a senior Gabonese diplomat, Michael Moussa Adamo, died of a heart attack during a government meeting on Friday.
Moussa Adamo, 62, an ally of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, suffered a heart attack and died “despite the efforts of specialists” to resuscitate him, the government said in a brief statement.
He “sat down at the beginning of the cabinet meeting and felt unwell,” a source close to the presidential palace told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He was taken to a military hospital unconscious but died just after noon, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Reacting to his death, President Bongo called Moussa Adamo on Twitter “a great diplomat, a true statesman”.
“For me, he was first and foremost a friend, loyal and faithful, whom I could always count on. This is a huge loss for Gabon,” he added.
Moussa Adamo was born in the northeastern city of Makokow in 1961 and began his career as a national television presenter.
In 2000, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense, who at the time was Bongo.
When Bongo was elected president after the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba in 2009, Moussa Adamo was his special adviser.
After ten years as Gabon’s ambassador to the United States until 2020, he became first defense secretary and then foreign secretary last March.
