Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge

Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge (born 5 May 1946 ) is a Gabonese politician who was Vice-President of Gabon from 1997 to 2009. He is the President of the Democratic and Republican Alliance (ADERE), a political party. As Vice-President of Gabon, Divungi Di Ndinge exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from May 2009 to June 2009, while President Omar Bongo Ondimba was hospitalized.

Political career Divungi Di Ndinge, a member of the Punu ethnic group, was born in Alombié, near Port-Gentil in western Gabon. An engineer by profession, specializing in electricity, becoming Secretary-General of ADERE in 1993. he announced his candidacy on 12 October 1993, and in the election he received 2.2% of the vote.

After the 1993 election, ADERE joined the Presidential Majority. and consequently stepped down from his posts as Mayor of Mouila and as a Deputy in the National Assembly. Following the November 2005 presidential election, Bongo reappointed him as Vice-President in January 2006.

On 10 October 2007, Divungi Di Ndinge was evacuated to the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris, due to what was described as "sudden depression". Later in 2007, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Bongo's rule, Divungi Di Ndinge said that Bongo had been "able to establish a strong bond with [his] people based on dialogue and tolerance".

2009 events Bongo's wife, Edith Lucie Bongo, died in March 2009. Following her death, it was announced on Gabonese television on 6 May 2009 that Bongo was "temporarily suspending his activities" as President in order to "regain strength and rest". The announcement stressed that Bongo had been deeply affected by the illness and death of his wife, and it said that Divungi Di Ndinge was taking over presidential duties while Bongo's activities were suspended. Divungi Di Ndinge represented Gabon at the inauguration of South African President Jacob Zuma on 9 May 2009.

Bongo died in a Spanish hospital on 8 June 2009. Under the terms of the constitution, Senate President Rose Francine Rogombé then took office as Interim President on 10 June and Divungi Di Ndinge accordingly ceased to exercise presidential powers. Although he resigned, as required by the constitution, following Bongo's death, Rogombé reappointed him as Vice-President on 27 June 2009. This was believed to be part of Rogombé's apparent policy of preserving the political, ethnic, and regional balance of state institutions crafted by Bongo during her interim presidency. At its Fourth Extraordinary Congress, ADERE declined to endorse any candidate, with Divungi Di Ndinge calling on party activists to vote according to their conscience at the conclusion of the congress on 2 August 2009.

After Bongo's son, Ali Bongo Ondimba, won the presidential election and took office on 16 October 2009, he dismissed Divungi Di Ndinge from his post as Vice-President. In Mouila, Divungi Di Ndinge opened a hotel called Mukab on 19 December 2009; the building was formerly a residence belonging to him.

At a plenary session on 15 January 2010, ADERE decided to rejoin the Presidential Majority, which it had left in mid-2009, while expressing support for the reforms instituted by President Bongo since he took office. Divungi Di Ndinge was an opposition leader at the time of the August 2016 presidential election; in the midst of the violence that followed the announcement of Bongo's re-election, he was one of the opposition leaders briefly detained at the campaign headquarters of opposition candidate Jean Ping.

Personal life Didjob Divungi Di Ndinge is the younger brother of Pierre Claver Divounguy, who was for a time the Mayor of Port-Gentil.