CAR ex-President François Bozizé takes charge of rebel alliance

Spokesman confirms ex-president agreed to become ‘general coordinator’ of alliance aiming to overthrow central gov’t.

François Bozizé, former president of the Central African Republic (CAR), has taken charge of a rebel alliance aiming to overthrow the central government, according to the coalition’s spokesman. Bozizé had seized power in a 2003 coup but was removed 10 years later, an act that sparked a brutal civil war that killed thousands of people and tipped CAR further into instability. The country’s current government has accused him of being behind a recently failed offensive by the so-called Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) against President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who won re-election in a December 2020 vote marred by insecurity and low turnout.