{"id":33775,"date":"2026-05-05T14:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=33775"},"modified":"2026-05-05T14:45:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T12:45:24","slug":"gabons-president-reopens-historic-congress-centre-in-show-of-political-intent","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/gabons-president-reopens-historic-congress-centre-in-show-of-political-intent\/","title":{"rendered":"Gabon\u2019s President reopens historic congress centre in show of political intent"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Gabon, President Brice Oligui Nguema has reopened the Omar Bongo Ondimba Congress Palace, in what observers describe as more than a routine inauguration.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The venue, once abandoned, has been fully renovated and restored nearly 50 years after hosting a summit of the Organisation of African Unity. It has also been reaffirmed as a symbol of the legacy of former president Omar Bongo Ondimba.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The reopening is being seen as a carefully staged moment, signalling both continuity and control, just over a year after Oligui Nguema came to power.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Nguema says his leadership aims to build on Gabon\u2019s political heritage while reshaping it for a new era.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23919,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-33775","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"President Brice Oligui Nguema has reopened the Omar Bongo Ondimba Congress Palace","published_date":"2026-05-05 14:23:22","news_description":"President Brice Oligui Nguema has reopened the Omar Bongo Ondimba Congress Palace","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33776,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/33775\/revisions\/33776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=33775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}