Congo’s ex-president Yhombi-Opango dies of coronavirus

Former president of the Republic of the Congo, Jacques Joaquim Yhombi-Opango,  has died after contracting coronavirus, his family has confirmed.

Yhombi-Opango, 81, died in a Paris hospital on Monday. 

According to his son, Yhombi-Opango was ill before he contracted the virus.

The former president led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, being ousted by the country’s current leader, Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Born in 1939 in the country’s northern Cuvette region, Yhombi-Opango was an army officer who rose to power after the assassination of president Marien Ngouabi.

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.