Pretoria - South African President Jacob Zuma has extended condolences to the government and the people of Gabon following the passing of the Gabonese President, El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba.
Mr Bongo died in a Spanish clinic on Sunday after suspending his work as head of the oil-rich nation in May. He was reportedly being treated for cancer. He had led Gabon since 1967.
"On behalf of the government and the people of South Africa and on my own behalf I wish to express our heartfelt condolences to the people of Gabon and President Bongo's family during these trying moments.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family that also lost a mother and a First Lady only three months ago," said Mr Zuma.
He said President Bongo had been a friend in his endeavours to strengthen and consolidate political and people-to-people relations between South Africa and Gabon particularly after 1994.
President Omar Bongo has contributed enormously to the African continent through his involvement in peaceful resolution of conflict in the Central African region and the continent as a whole, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation said.
He became vice-president in 1967, taking over as head of state later that year after the death of Gabon's first post-independence President, Leon Mba. Born Albert Bernard Bongo, he converted to Islam in 1973 and changed his name to El Hadj Omar Bongo.
His wife, Edith Lucie Bongo, President Sassou-Nguesso's daughter, died in March 2009.
