Luanda - The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, Tuesday in Luanda received a verbal message from his counterpart from the Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin Archange Touadéra.
The message was delivered by the CAR's Foreign Minister, Baipo Temom Sylvie, who arrived in Luanda shortly before going to the Presidential Palace, where she was received by the Angolan Head of State, as a special envoy.
"The message that I brought with me conveys the standing of President Faustin Archange Touadéra," the minister said as she left the audience, stressing that, internally, talks are under way to bring positions closer together.
"I came to discuss with President Lourenço issues related to initiatives taken in the region, on the situation in the CAR, particularly the initiative of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)," said the head of Central African diplomacy.
Baipo Temom Sylvie acknowledged that her country is experiencing a crisis situation that has led to the creation of several armed groups acting both internally and in neighbouring countries.
For the Minister of Foreign Affairs, this is a situation that demonstrates the dimension that the problem in CAR has reached and that should not, therefore, concern only her country, but the entire region.
The Angolan Head of State is currently the Acting President of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR).
Political and military situation in the CAR
Since the coup d'état perpetrated by the "Seleka" group, which led to the fall of François Bozizė (former Central African President), the CAR has been plunged into a situation of growing insecurity.
People are being forced to leave their villages as a result of ethnic and religious clashes.
Since December 2020, some 60,000 citizens have fled the violence ravaging the CAR, seeking refuge in border countries, according to data from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
The current Head of State, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, won the presidential election on 27 December with 53.16 per cent of the votes, in an election which the international community considered "free and fair".
Ten days before the election, six of the CAR's most powerful armed groups allied themselves with the Coalition of Patriots for Change.
These armed groups already had control of two-thirds of the country, most of them supporting former President François Bozizė, whose candidacy was invalidated.
On 19 January, they launched a new military offensive towards the capital Bangui to prevent the re-election of President Touadéra and the holding of elections.
The attack was repulsed by Central African troops, with the support of some 12,000 blue helmets of Minusca, the UN peacekeeping force, and Russian paramilitaries.
