Gabonese President Bongo returns home a week after the coup d'état missed

Gabonese President Ali Bongo returned to his country a little over a week after a coup d'etat attempt.

President Bongo was in Morocco, where he was being treated after suffering a stroke in October in Saudi Arabia.

He returned in the early hours of Tuesday before a ceremony during which a new cabinet had been sworn.

The appointment of new ministers is seen as an attempt to strengthen the president's chances of staying in power.

Mr. Bongo succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, as party chairman in 2009. He was narrowly re-elected in 2016, in a tainted poll of violence and fraud charges.

• From the playboy prince to the Gabonese president
• Country profile of Gabon

Last week, a group of soldiers announced that they had taken control of the government.

But the attempt to seize power was short-lived, as forces loyal to the president quickly mastered the renegade soldiers.

Between the president and his father, the Bongo family has been in power for more than half a century.