The Gabonese President Ali Bongo has suffered from stroke, the country government has confirmed.
President Bongo, 59, has been out of the country since October seeking medical treatment – first in Saudi Arabia, followed by Morocco.
It is now being reported he is now recovering in a private residence in the capital, Rabat.
There had not being official confirmation of the nature of Mr Bongo’s illness, until now as the country had been saying that he had just been “seriously ill”.
“Nobody should rejoice over the death or illness of another”, AFP quotes Gabon’s Vice-President Pierre Claver Maganga Moussavou as saying in a speech on Saturday.
“Those who have never known a CVA [meaning cerebrovascular accident or stroke], pray to God that they never know one.”
Ali Bongo became president in 2009 succeeding his father Omar Bongo as president in 2009, who governed the oil-rich nation for more than 40 years.