Luanda - Angolan head of State left Thursday for Republic of the Congo on political consultations with his counterpart, Denis Sassou Nguesso, about the situation underway in Gabon.

At the Luanda Military Air Base, the Angolan Head of State was bid farewell by the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança Costa, and government officials.

A group of senior Gabonese military officers on Wednesday announced that they had taken power and detained President Ali Bongo, minutes after the state election body declared the winner of Saturday’s general election.

Appearing on state-run television channel Gabon 24, the officers said they represented all security and defence forces in the Central African nation.

They said the election results were cancelled, all borders closed until further notice and state institutions dissolved.

The announcement was made in a press release which was presented on the television channel "Gabon 24" by military personnel who decided to close the country's borders.

Gabon is situated on the Atlantic coast of the Central African region.

It has land borders with Equatorial Guinea (335 km) and Cameroon (349 km) to the north and the Republic of Congo (2,567 km) to the east and south, and by sea it borders São Tomé and Príncipe.

Angola and Congo are also part of the Central African sub-region.

AL/ADR/MRA/jmc