The former strongman of Bangui had taken refuge since late 2019 in Ndjamena, Chad.
The two men were photographed conversing in a living room, with the flags of Guinea-Bissau, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union in the background. All dressed up in white and smiling, Umaro Sissoco Embalo held the shoulder of his 76-year-old host, wearing a blue suit and white shirt with a mauve tie and beige pants on brown shoes. A gesture that seems to reassure the former head of state who led for a decade the Central African Republic before its overthrow in March 2013.
“I received today the former president of the Central African Republic, François Bozize, for humanitarian reasons at the request of the Central African Community,” President Embalo, who is also the current chairman of ECOWAS, briefly stated on his Facebook page on Sunday, March 5. The head of state did not specify whether Bozize is
on Guinea-Bissau soil as an exiled person.
After initially taking refuge in Cameroon, he had been living in neighboring Chad since 2019, a presence that seemed to be perceived by the authorities in Bangui as a threat. Victim of a coup in 2013, François Bozizé had seized power in the Central African Republic ten years earlier by the same process after two failed attempts.
ODL/cgd/fss/APA