Libreville - President Omar Bongo, in power in Gabon since 1967, has squashed speculation about his succession, saying that he has a seven-year mandate and the right to run again.
Bongo rejected suggestions that he was sick. He said that he had discussed the issue of his succession within his ruling Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) and the matter was closed.
"As far as my succession is concerned, I was elected for seven years and, according to the constitution, my mandate is renewable," he said on Saturday.
"I debated the problem within my party and the matter is closed."
Bongo, Africa's second longest serving head of state after Togo's Gnassingbe Eyadema, won his latest term of office in 1998 multi-party elections which the opposition said were rigged.
Bongo, still only 64, took office in the oil-producing former French colony in 1967, on the death of independence President Leon M'Ba.
On Saturday he urged politicians to tackle the country's economic problems rather than speculate about his successor. "It's the people who should designate my successor, not President Bongo," he said.
A presidential election in Senegal, where President Abdou Diouf has been in power since 1981, has refocused attention on Africa's longer-serving leaders.
Diouf's chances of winning a final seven-year term in the first runoff in his country's history look uncertain. - Reuters