Yombi Opango, former president of the People’s Republic of Congo, has died of coronavirus in France.
He was an army officer who became Congo-Brazzaville’s first general and served as Head of State of the People’s Republic of the Congo from 1977 to 1979He lived in exile in France since 1997 after he was ousted from power.
His son Jean-Jacques said Opango died at a Paris hospital after contracting coronavirus. Yhombi Opango had been ill before he contracted the virus, his son added.
Accused of taking part in a coup plot against Sassou Nguesso, Yhombi-Opango was jailed from 1987 to 1990. He was released a few months before a 1991 national conference that introduced multi-party politics in the central African country.
He founded the Rally for Democracy and Development party but lost in a 1992 presidential election.
Yhombi-Opango later allied with elected president Pascal Lissouba, becoming his prime minister between 1994 and 1996.
When civil war broke out in Congo in 1997, Yhombi-Opango fled into exile in France.
Congo has 19 reported cases of the COVID-19 disease.
Last week, the country’s President closed the borders and imposed a state of emergency to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
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