Former Central African Republic president François Bozizé returned to the country last week following a six-year exile after he was ousted from power, according to his political party.
The secretary-general of the Kwa na Kwa (KNK) party, Bertin Bea, told a press conference that Bozizé had been in the capital, Bangui, since Sunday and such reports were not just rumors.
Bea added that Bozizé would address his fellow countrymen in the coming days but did not give any further details.
French public radio service, RFI, reported that Bozizé’s son, Jean Francis, also confirmed his father’s return to the country.
According to the KNK party spokesman, Bozizé travelled partly on foot and partly in a vehicle to reach the capital, RFI reported.
However, government spokesman Maxime Ange-Kazagui dismissed reports of Bozizé’s return saying they did not sound credible to him.
Bozizé came to power in 2003 through a coup supported by Chad. He was ousted from office a decade later and fled to Cameroon following an offensive by Seleka rebels after failing to honor a pledge to share power.
The former armed forces chief has an arrest warrant against him for alleged crimes against humanity and incitement to genocide.
The warrant was initiated by the then CAR government headed by interim president Michel Djotodia, who led the Seleka rebels.
The former president has previously expressed his desire to return to power. The central African nation is expected to hold presidential elections next year in December.
Since its independence from France in 1960, the mineral-rich CAR has been bedeviled by violence and coups.
