Gabon’s foreign affairs minister dies of heart attack during cabinet meeting

Michael Moussa Adamo, Gabon’s minister of foreign affairs, is dead.

Adamo died on Friday of a heart attack, the Gabonese government announced in a statement.

The government said he was rushed to the hospital and died shortly after midday despite specialist treatment.

“On January 20, 2023, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Moussa Adamo suffered a heart arrest (…) Admitted to intensive care and despite the efforts of specialists, the death was confirmed at 12:12 p.m. today,” the statement reads.

Gabon President Ali Bongo described Moussa Adamo as ” a very great diplomat, a true statesman.”

“For me, he was, first of all, a friend, loyal and faithful, whom I could always count on. This is a huge loss for Gabon,” Bongo said in a tweet.

Notre ministre des Affaires étrangères, Michael Moussa Adamo, s'en est allé ce jour.
Il était un très grand diplomate, un véritable homme d'Etat.
Pour moi, il était d'abord un ami, loyal et fidèle, sur lequel j'ai toujours pu compter.
C'est une perte immense pour le #Gabon.#RIP

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— Ali Bongo Ondimba (@PresidentABO) January 20, 2023

Reuters quoted three government sources as saying that Adamo, who was 62 years old, was in a council of ministers meeting when he suffered the cardiac attack.

Adamo was born in the northeastern town of Makokou in 1961 and started out as a presenter on national television.

In 2000, he was made chief of staff for the defense minister, who at the time was Bongo.

When Bongo was elected president on the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba in 2009, Adamo served as his special adviser.

After a decade as Gabon’s ambassador to the United States until 2020, he became the first defense minister and then foreign minister in March 2022.