Old clip of Burkina minister’s onstage fall misrepresented as showing Gabon’s Ali Bongo

Published on September 22, 2023 at 13:34
2 min read
By James OKONG'O, AFP Kenya

A video of a man falling onto a podium during a media briefing has been shared on social media in Africa with claims that it shows Gabon's deposed leader Ali Bongo collapsing while giving a speech. But this is false: the clip, which has been online for a decade, shows a former Burkina Faso foreign affairs minister fainting while on stage at a press conference in Turkey in 2013.

“President of Gabon Ali Bongo fell as he was giving his speech,” reads a post published on X (formerly Twitter) on August 31, 2023.

Screenshot showing the false post, taken on September 21, 2023

The clip, which surfaced in mid-August as Gabon was nearing elections and has kept circulating since then, was intended to question Bongo’s suitability to run for the presidency.

Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 which left him physically impaired, making his health a source of concern for voters in the build-up to the August 26, 2023, presidential polls (archived here).

The video shows a man wearing a black suit and white shirt wobbling before falling to the floor, knocking down a podium in front of him. Several people nearby rush to help him.

The same clip was shared elsewhere on X and TikTok.

On August 30, 2023, military officers seized power in Gabon, ousting Bongo shortly after the country’s electoral commission announced that he had secured a third term in polls disputed by the country’s opposition (archived here).

The coup leaders placed Bongo under house arrest and installed General Brice Oligui Nguema as head of state, ending the Bongo family's 56-year hold on power (archived here).

Bongo was first elected in 2009, taking over from his late father who came to power in 1967.

On September 7, 2023, Gabon's military leaders announced that they had released Bongo from house arrest.

But the video doing rounds on social media is not recent and does not show Bongo.

Ex-Burkina Faso minister

Using a reverse image search on a screenshot from the video, AFP Fact Check found a longer version of the clip on AFP’s YouTube channel. It was uploaded more than a decade ago, in May 2013.

It shows Djibril Bassole, a former Burkina Faso foreign affairs minister who fell onstage during a press conference with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara, Turkey on May 9, 2013.

AFP reported at the time that officials from Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry had said that Bassole had a sore throat and had taken antibiotics a few hours before the press conference (archived here).

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