The Gendarmerie patrols with the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in PK5, the predominantly Muslim shopping district of Bangui, on January 7, 2020. (Florent Vergnes/AFP)
BANGUI
– Prosecutors in Central African Republic say they have detained a European
employee of a US-based non-governmental organisation on suspicion of being a
threat to state security and seeking to incite revolt against security forces.
In
a statement read on state television on Friday, the public prosecutor in the
capital Bangui said Martin Joseph Figueira had Portuguese and Belgian passports
and had been detained on 25 May after an investigation was opened.
It
did not give details of the charges but accused Figueira of being in contact
with armed groups.
FHI
360, the public health NGO for which Figueira worked, according to the
prosecutor, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Portuguese
foreign ministry also did not respond.
Central
African Republic, a former French colony and one of the world’s poorest
countries, has become a close Russian ally in recent years, hosting one of the
Wagner Group mercenary army’s largest foreign operations.
Violence
waned there after a peace accord in February 2019 between the government and 14
armed groups, but the situation remains volatile as swathes of territory are
still outside government control.
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Source link : https://www.news24.com/news24/africa/news/ngo-worker-with-portuguese-belgian-ties-accused-of-inciting-revolt-in-central-african-republic-20240602
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Publish date : 2024-06-02 15:49:51