Former Central African Republic (CAR) President François Bozize is in exile in Bissau at the request of the Community of Central African States (CEMAC), Guinean government sources told Lusa today.
François Bozize, 76, arrived in Bissau last Thursday on a special flight from Chad, where he has been since 2021.
According to some analysts, Bozize, a Christian, led a coalition of rebels from Chad who tried to overthrow the current regime in the Central African Republic, led by Felix Arcange Touadéra.
Bozize ruled the CAR from 2003, when he overthrew Ange Felix Parassa in a coup d’état, until he was also overthrown in another coup by rebels led by Michel Diottadi, a Muslim, in 2013.
Since then, the CAR, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been plunged into crises and coup attempts, and Bozize is suspected of being one of the main destabilizers.
Portugal and other countries are part of the United Nations Blue Helmet Force, MINUSCA, which is trying to keep the peace in that country.
Guinean government sources explained that several African countries had petitioned Guinean-Bissau President Oumaro Sissoko Embalo, who agreed to grant asylum to Bozize “for humanitarian reasons.”
The same sources told Luza that Bozize lives in a house in the center of Bissau.