\n Francois Bozize, a former president of Central African Republic who became a rebel leader, has left neighbouring Chad under a deal taking him to a new place of exile, the CAR's foreign minister said on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bozize, 76, has been accepted by the West African state of Guinea-Bisseau, Foreign Minister Mahamat Saleh Annadif told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n He left last Friday under a deal between the CAR, Chad and Angola that was agreed in the Angolan capital Luanda on February 17, he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Guinea-Bissau agreed to take him in, he's been there since March 3,\" he added.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bozize, a former general, seized power in the CAR in 2003 but was toppled a decade later, unleashing a civil conflict along sectarian lines.\n<\/p>\n
\n Defying UN sanctions for his presumed role in the crisis, he fled to Uganda, slipping home in 2020 in a bid to contest presidential elections and then donning the mantle of rebel leader.\n<\/p>\n
\n He went to Chad at the end of 2021 after government troops recovered swathes of territory with the help of Russian paramilitaries.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bozize's presence in Chad while his Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) waged a guerilla war in northern CAR strained bilateral ties. The CAR accused Chad of allowing the rebels to operate from its soil.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Mr Bozize went to Chad at Angola's request and in line with an agreement with the CAR authorities,\" said Saleh Annadif.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The change in the situation has shown that the Central African Republic is no longer in favour of his presence in Chad as a neighbouring country.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n In Guinea-Bissau, an advisor to President Umaro Sissoco Embalo confirmed Bozize had arrived last Friday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"He's been accepted purely on humanitarian grounds,\" the adviser told AFP, asking not to be named.\n<\/p>\n
\n Civil conflict has torn CAR, one of world's poorest countries, since 2013 when Muslim-dominated armed groups ousted Bozize.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bozize set up armed militias known as the anti-Balakas, who were mainly Christian, to try to regain power.\n<\/p>\n
\n The conflict lost intensity from 2018, but the country still suffers bouts of violence and remains deeply poor.\n<\/p>\n
\n Both sides have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the United Nations.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN and Western capitals also accuse CAR's army and Russian paramilitaries -- as well as today's rebels -- of committing atrocities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Francois Bozize, a former president of Central African Republic who became a rebel leader, has left neighbouring Chad under a deal taking him to a new place of exile, the CAR's foreign minister said on Monday. Bozize, 76, has been accepted by the West African state of Guinea-Bisseau, Foreign Minister Mahamat Saleh Annadif told AFP. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-113377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n