Central African Republic: ex-president Francois Bozizé leaves Chad for Guinea-Bissau

One of the main leaders of the Central African rebellion, ex-president François Bozizé, has left Chad where he was exiled for Guinea-Bissau, which has agreed to host him, the Chadian foreign minister announced on Monday.

Mr. Bozizé, whose fall in 2013 to a rebel movement had triggered a civil war, had taken refuge in N'Djamena at the end of 2021, in the face of the recapture of most of the Central African territory, in the hands of various armed groups, by the soldiers of President Faustin Archange Touadéra.

But his presence in Chad, while his Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), the main rebel movement, pursues a guerrilla war in the north of the country, had considerably strained relations between the two neighboring countries, with Bangui accusing N'Djamena of letting the rebellion operate from its territory.

"François Bozizé left Chad on March 3," according to an agreement made possible during a "tripartite meeting between Angola, Chad and the Central African Republic in Luanda on February 17," said Mahamat Saleh Annadif, the head of Chadian diplomacy. "Guinea-Bissau had agreed to take him in, and he has been there since March 3, the minister added.

"Bozizé had come to Chad at the request of Angola and after an agreement with the Central African authorities," Saleh Annadif said, adding that "developments have shown that the Central African Republic is no longer for his presence in Chad as a neighboring country.

Mr. Bozizé, the CPC's general coordinator, arrived on March 3 from N'Djamena, confirmed an adviser to President Umaro Sissoco Embalo who requested anonymity, adding: "It is purely on a humanitarian basis that he has been welcomed.