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Central African Republic: the former enemy presidents Bozizé and Djotodia meet

2020-09-11T18:53:04.963Z


Former Central African President François Bozizé and the one who overthrew him in 2013, Michel Djotodia - a putsch that triggered a bloody civil war that continues today - briefly met in Bangui on Friday, reports an AFP journalist . The half-hour interview comes as rumors of a postponement of the presidential election scheduled for less than four months grow insistent. Read also: Central African


Former Central African President François Bozizé and the one who overthrew him in 2013, Michel Djotodia - a putsch that triggered a bloody civil war that continues today - briefly met in Bangui on Friday, reports an AFP journalist .

The half-hour interview comes as rumors of a postponement of the presidential election scheduled for less than four months grow insistent.

Read also: Central African Republic: France engages combat aircraft alongside the UN

François Bozizé has already announced his candidacy for this election on December 27, while Michel Djotodia has not yet spoken.

The current president, Faustin Archange Touadéra, is expected to announce soon that he is seeking a second term, according to observers who consider that François Bozizé would then be his most serious challenger.

It was one of the very rare meetings between the two ex-enemies on Friday, more than seven years after the coalition of predominantly Muslim Séléka militias, led in particular by Michel Djotodia, ousted François Bozizé from power.

The latter, in exile, had been placed under UN sanctions, suspected of having supported anti-balakas self-defense groups, dominated by Christians and animists.

The fighting between anti-balakas and Séléka had drawn the Central African Republic into a murderous spiral of community clashes.

The numerous massacres perpetrated by the two camps plunged this country, among the poorest in Africa, into the third civil war in its history.

According to the UN, which accused the two coalitions of war crimes, between 3,000 and 6,000 people perished, mainly civilians, between 2013 and 2015. At the end of the meeting, Michel Djotodia affirmed that he had come to discuss 'a

"peace plan"

for the country with François Bozizé.

"I assure you that we get along well,"

he insisted to the press.

François Bozizé did not comment.

Since 2016, the civil war has entered a phase of low intensity but more than two thirds of the Central African Republic are in the hands of rebel militias and their abuses against civilians are still frequent despite a peace agreement in February 2019 in Khartoum between 14 groups. armed forces and the government.

In addition, there are significant delays in the electoral calendar, in particular in the enrollment of voters.

Many Central African media, opposition parties and members of civil society are convinced that we are moving towards a postponement of the presidential and legislative elections of December 27.

Thursday, Touadéra, Bozizé, Djotodia, as well as Alexandre-Ferdinand N'Guendet, current and former heads of state, met in Bangui, without the presence of journalists, and spoke in particular of the delays in the electoral calendar, according to government media.

The day before, the Constitutional Court was deeply concerned about it too had "recommended" to the body responsible for organizing the vote to

"meet the deadlines or, if not, to inform"

the government.

The September 27 deadline for the end of enlistment seems impossible to meet, experts say.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-09-11

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