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Spokesman Serge Bozanga confirms that the former president has agreed to become the “general coordinator” of the alliance aimed at overthrowing the central government.
François Bozizé, former president of the Central African Republic (CAR), has supported a rebel alliance aimed at overthrowing the central government, according to the spokesperson for the coalition.
Bozizé seized power in a 2003 coup but was removed from office 10 years later, an act that sparked a brutal civil war that killed thousands and plunged CAR in instability.
The country’s current government accused him of being behind a recently failed offensive by the so-called Coalition of Patriots for Change (PCC) against President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who was re-elected in the ” a December 2020 vote marred by insecurity and low turnout. .
Spokesman Serge Bozanga confirmed to AFP news agency on Sunday that Bozizé had agreed in February to become the “general coordinator” of the PCC.
Bozanga confirmed the authenticity of a document dated February 18 stating that Bozizé accepted the “appeal” to the CCP leadership.
The coalition brought together six of the armed groups that control much of the country in mid-December to launch the offensive against Touadéra, just over a week before the presidential and legislative elections on December 27.
Bozizé, who expressed his support for the CCP in December while urging a boycott of the elections, denied the allegations of leading the group.
On January 4, the government launched an investigation against him for “rebellion.”
Faced with a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force as well as hundreds of Russian and Rwandan soldiers and paramilitaries deployed at the end of December, the rebels have been retreating since a January 13 attack on the capital. , Bangui, was foiled.
The government claimed to have acted in concert with Bozizé, who returned to the country at the end of 2019.
The Constitutional Court had previously blocked Bozizé’s candidacy for the presidential election, on the grounds that he was under United Nations sanctions for his alleged support of militias held responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict that started in 2013.
Bozizé, who fled abroad after his deportation and returned to CAR at the end of 2019, denies the charges against him.
The gold and diamond-rich country of nearly five million people has failed to find stability since the 2013 rebellion.
The latest wave of election-related violence last year forced more than 200,000 civilians to flee their homes, blocked food flows and pushed up the prices of basic commodities.
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