On the weekend of 29th -31st March, the Equatoguinean presidential couple organised a mass to pay homage to Edith Lucie Bongo Ondimba, First Lady of the Republic of Gabon, on the tenth anniversary of her death.
The Archbishop of Malabo, Monsignor Juan Nsue Edjang, oversaw the Eucharistic celebration marking the tenth anniversary of the death of the wife of the also deceased President Omar Bongo Ondimba.
The presidents of constitutional bodies, members of the Government, led by the vice Prime Ministers, the Deputy General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea and other figures attended the service in solidarity with the former First Lady, Cendrine Judith Sassou Ngueso.
The Republic of Gabon was represented by its accredited Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, Javier Obiang Allogo, and the head of missions from the diplomatic representation, Albert Mououele.
After a reading from the Gospel of St. Luke, by the priest Jose Ndong Mba Ada, parish priest of the Immaculate Conception in Riaba, the minister Fortunato Nsue underlined in the homily two key aspects; humility and forgiveness, which also form the central message of lent.
Born on 10th March 1964 in Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, Edith Lucie Bongo was daughter of the President, H. E. Denis Sassou Nguesso, a doctor specialising in Paediatrics and with studies in HIV/AIDS as her main subject. Lucie Bongo helped create a forum of first ladies to fight against AIDS and founded associations for vulnerable people and children with disabilities.
She married deceased President, H. E. Omar Bongo Ondimba, in 1990. In 2009 she was hospitalised in Rabat (Morocco), and on 14th March of the same year she died in hospital four days after her 45th birthday.
In addition to organising this mass in Equatorial Guinea, H. E. Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Constancia Mangue de Obiang were in Congo Brazzaville, with the Togo Head of State, H. E. Faure Esosima NAagsimbe and the former president of Benin, Tomas Boni Yayi, for a solemn Eucharistic mass organised by their counterparts, H. E. Denis Sassou Ngueso and Antoinette Sassou, on 14th March, the date of the tenth anniversary.
At the end of the mass, Juan Nsue Edjang recalled the virtues of Edith Lucie Bongo, and her capacity to negotiate with others. Finally, he expressed gratitude to the presidential couple for the organisation of meetings of this type, that promote friendship and harmony.
Source: Equatorial Guinea Press and Information Office