BANGUI, Central African Republic: A court backed by the United Nations (UN) Tuesday announced it had issued an arrest warrant for the Central African Republic’s former president Francois Bozize over possible crimes against humanity committed by the military between 2009 and 2013.
According to the Special Criminal Court (CPS), a hybrid jurisdiction located in the capital Bangui with Central African and foreign magistrates, the alleged crimes include murder, rape, enforced disappearance, torture and other inhumane acts.
Bozize, 77, seized power in 2003 in a coup before being overthrown 10 years later. He now leads the country’s main rebellion and has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023.
According to the CPS, which was established in 2015 under the auspices of the United Nations, the international warrant was issued on February 27. The CPS is asking Guinea-Bissau for cooperation in arresting and extraditing the suspect.
The court is responsible for hearing war crimes committed since 2003 in the country, which has been under civil war and dictatorship since independence from France in 1960.
Court judges are investigating possible “crimes against humanity” by members of Bozize’s presidential guard between February 2009 and March 2013 at a private prison and military training center in downtown Bossembele.
The judges concluded that there was substantial and consistent evidence against (Boziz) as a hierarchical and military leader, likely to expose him to criminal responsibility.
Amnesty International said in a statement that the warrant constitutes an encouraging step in the quest for justice for the victims of numerous crimes committed in the central African Republic.
It called on Guinea-Bissau to hand Bozize over to Central African authorities “without delay”.
The former French colony has been embroiled in civil war since Bozize was ousted by the Muslim-led Seleka coalition in 2013.
To regain power, Bozize founded a largely Christian, animist militia called the Anti-Balakas.
Thousands of civilians have been killed and both countries have been accused by the United Nations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Although the intensity of the conflict has decreased since 2018, the country continues to suffer from violence and extreme poverty.
Bozize leads a new coalition of rebels, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), which was formed in December 2020 with the aim of ousting his successor, Faustin Archange Touadera.
However, Touadera brought in fighters from Wagner’s Russian mercenaries and Russian agents and drove them out of Bangui.
Bozize was sentenced to forced labour in absentia on charges of conspiracy, sedition and murder in September.
