NAMES IN THE NEWS : Gabon Leader Marries Doctor
Gabonese President Omar Bongo, offering cash and an assortment of traditional gifts, married the daughter of the president of the neighboring Congo.
State radio said the marriage of Bongo and Edith Sassou Nguesso, a 27-year-old doctor, took place in a family ceremony in Oyo, the home village of President Denis Sassou Nguesso about 250 miles north of Brazzaville.
Bongo, 54, who has three children from a previous marriage, offered about $170 to the families of his new wife’s father and mother, along with two pieces of fabric, a head scarf, a men’s suit, a pair of women’s shoes, a shovel and a hoe.
In August, when rumors of the marriage began to circulate, Bongo refused to confirm or deny them. “People should stop concerning themselves with something that’s none of their business,” said Bongo, who has been president of Gabon, a country of 1.5 million on Africa’s West Coast, since 1967.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
