CAR-BOZIZE PRESIDENTIAL BID/ REACTIONS Despite charges, exiled Central African leader, Bozize plans to stand for election

Record ID: 144381

  • Title: CAR-BOZIZE PRESIDENTIAL BID/ REACTIONS Despite charges, exiled Central African leader, Bozize plans to stand for election
  • Date: 12th August 2015
  • Summary: BANGUI,CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (FILE) (REUTERS) STREET SCENES STREET VENDOR IN HIS STALL STREET SCENES MISCA PATROL TRUVK DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD MISCA PEACEKEEPERS ON PATROL VARIOUS OF MEETING BETWEEN CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS/MISCA PEACEKEEPERS ON PATROL
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Congo
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA40VUKDI8FL6F37TZHQPZLRGGG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: In the Central African Republic's second largest city of Bambari, residents on Tuesday (August 11) divided in response to reports that former president Francois Bozize may return from exile to contest a presidential election in October, two years after he was forced from power.
    Bambari sits on a sectarian fault line now cleaving the country, where over two years of violence has killed thousands, forced a million from their homes and led to most Muslims fleeing into northern zones closer to Chad and Sudan.
    The news of his impending return came from the leader's Kwa Na Kwa political party on Monday (August 10).
    His return would be complicated because the government that succeeded him issued an international warrant for his arrest in 2013, accusing him of crimes against humanity and incitement to genocide. He also faces U.N. travel and banking sanctions.
    Thousands of fighters from a rebel coalition called the Seleka, angered by what they said was Bozize's refusal to honor an earlier peace deal, toppled Bozize in March 2013 after 10 years in power.
    He fled to neighboring Cameroon and currently spends time in Uganda and Kenya.
    Some residents in Bambari blamed Bozize of sowing violence.
    "I absolutely refuse Bozize's return and his candidacy for president, because everything we are going through right now is as a result of his politics. I am extremely unhappy about this," said Bambari resident Amid Ousman.
    Bozize's fall led to a chaotic period as the predominantly Muslim Seleka seized power, prompting reprisal attacks by "anti-balaka" Christian militia that drove tens of thousands of Muslims from the south in a de facto partition.
    A transitional court will rule on who is eligible to run. CAR's constitution does not prevent Bozize to run again.
    For some in Bambari, a Bozize candidacy is an option they would consider.
    "He is the father of the country. If he wants to return, that's not a problem. If he wants to come, he should come. We don't know if he can correct the mistakes he made in the past and sort out the country, but it's not a problem," said Thomas Orogbo, a Bambari resident.
    "I say yes, he can come back, but it is the population that needs to choose. Today I can say yes, but the population can say no. It's the population that should decide on his return and on putting him in power," said another Bambari resident Alix Marcelin.
    Although attacks in the capital have eased in recent months and a U.N. peacekeeping mission has been deployed, sporadic violence occurs.
    Last week, at least one soldier with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic was killed during clashes with armed assailants in a northern neighborhood of the capital Bangui, a spokesman for the mission said.
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