Gabon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Moussa Adamo died of a heart attack during a cabinet meeting, according to the government and a presidential source.
The 62-year-old who was an ally of President Ali Bongo Ondimba died “despite efforts by specialists” to revive him, the government said in a brief statement on Friday, January 20, 2023.
A source close to the presidential palace said that he “had sat down at the start of the cabinet meeting and began to feel unwell”, according to AFP.
Moussa Adamo was taken to a military hospital while unconscious but died just after midday, the source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
President Bongo described Moussa Adamo on Twitter as “a great diplomat, a true statesman”.
“For me, he was, first of all, a friend, loyal and faithful, whom I could always count on,” said Bongo.
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— Ali Bongo Ondimba (@PresidentABO) January 20, 2023
Abdulla Shahid, Adamo’s counterpart in the Maldives, offered his sympathies to the late minister’s family on Twitter, as well.
Shocked and extremely saddened to hear of the untimely demise of my dear friend Michael Moussa Adamo, Foreign Minister of #Gabon.
My deepest condolences to his family and loved ones. And to the Government of Gabon on this loss.
I will miss his friendship and wise advise. pic.twitter.com/ywNizXarJw
— Abdulla Shahid (@abdulla_shahid) January 20, 2023
Moussa Adamo was born in 1961 in the northeastern town of Makokou. He started out as a presenter on national television and eventually, in 2000, while Bongo was defence minister, Moussa Adamo became chief of staff to the defence minister.
When Bongo was elected president on the death of his father Omar Bongo Ondimba in 2009, Moussa Adamo served as his special adviser.
After a decade as Gabon’s ambassador to the United States until 2020, he became first defence minister and then foreign minister in March last year.
Iran Executes British-Iranian Alireza Akbari, A Former Deputy Defense Minister
Iran has executed British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported on Saturday, after sentencing the former Iranian deputy defense minister to death on charges of spying for Britain.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said late on Friday Iran must not follow through with the execution – a call echoed by the U.S. State Department. Britain had described the death sentence as politically motivated and called for his release.
Mizan said in a Tweet early on Saturday the sentence had been carried out, without saying when.
“Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death on charges of corruption on earth and extensive action against the country’s internal and external security through espionage for the British government’s intelligence service … was executed,” it said.
The report accused Akbari, arrested in 2019, of receiving 1,805,000 euros, 265,000 pounds, and $50,000 for spying.
In an audio recording purportedly from Akbari and broadcast by BBC Persian on Wednesday, he said he had confessed to crimes he had not committed after extensive torture.
Iranian state media broadcast a video on Thursday that they said showed that Akbari played a role in the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in a 2020 attack outside Tehran which authorities blamed at the time on Israel.
In the video, Akbari did not confess to involvement in the assassination but said a British agent had asked for information about Fakhrizadeh.
Iran’s state media often airs purported confessions by suspects in politically charged cases.
Reuters could not establish the authenticity of the state media video and audio, or when or where they were recorded.
London-Tehran ties have deteriorated in recent months as efforts have stalled to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact, to which Britain is a party.
Britain has also been critical of the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests, sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian-Kurdish woman in September.
A British foreign office minister said on Thursday that Britain was actively considering proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization but has not reached a final decision.
Iran has issued dozens of death sentences as part of the crackdown on the unrest, executing at least four people.
In the audio recording broadcast by BBC Persian, Akbari said he had made false confessions as a result of torture.
“With more than 3,500 hours of torture, psychedelic drugs, and physiological and psychological pressure methods, they took away my will. They drove me to the brink of madness… and forced me to make false confessions by force of arms and death threats,” he said.
Akbari was a close ally of Ali Shamkhani, now the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, who was defense minister from 1997 to 2005, when Akbari was his deputy.
Source: Al Jazeera
