Ex-president Yhombi Opango dies from coronavirus

The deadly lung disease took another prominent victim in Africa. Former President Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango, who ruled Congo-Brazzaville between 1977 and 1979, died in France.

The former Congolese President Joaquim Yhombi Opango died on Monday, March 30, in France, AFP report according to sources close to the family. “My father, former president Yhombi Opango, died on Monday afternoon at the American hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris. He was a victim of the Coronavirus,” said his son, Jean-Jacques, on the telephone.

President of Congo between 1977 and 1979, he succeeded Marien Ngouabi, the then head of state, who was assassinated. His reign was cut short by Denis Sassou N’guesso, who seized power after leading a coup d ‘état.

The man had recently retired to France because of his deteriorating health. Infected with covid-19, he died in the French capital on Monday, March 30, at the age of 81.

Yhombi Opango had also been Prime Minister of Congo under the presidency of Pascal Lissouba, between 1994 and 1996, before going into exile at the outbreak of the civil war in 1997, from which he returned ten years later.