Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo on February 9, 1959) is a Gabonese politician who has served in the government of Gabon as Minister of National Defense since 1999. He is the son of Pr
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Ondimba was born in Brazzaville as the son of Albert-Bernard (later Omar) Bongo and Josephine Kama (later Patience Dabany). After studying law, he entered politics in the 1980s and was the High Personal Representative of the President of the Republic from 1987 to 1989. In 1989, his father appointed him to the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. He was considered a reformist within the ruling PDG in the early 1990s.In the 1990 parliamentary election (the first election after the introduction of multiparty politics), he was elected to the National Assembly as a PDG candidate in Haut-Ogooué Province. After two years as Foreign Minister, a 1991 constitutional amendment setting a minimum age of 35 for ministers resulted in his resignation from the government.
Omar Bongo died at a Spanish hospital on 8 June 2009. Ali Bongo appeared on television that night to call "for calm and serenity of heart and reverence to preserve the unity and peace so dear to our late father".
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