CAR leader claims kidnap plot

2010-01-25 20:05

Bangui - A former government minister in the Central African Republic, Eloi Anguimate, who is a presidential election candidate, told AFP on Monday that his life was threatened after two kidnap bids.

"There are [elements] that indicate that my life is threatened," said Anguimate, who is chairperson of the National Convention, a small party in the opposition Union of Active Forces of the Nation (UFVN) coalition.

The opposition leader said he escaped two kidnap bids, one on the night of January 20 at his home, and the second the following afternoon by armed men in uniform.

"When people come at around 02:00 or 03:00 in the morning and stop outside your front door, making threatening proposals and then going again, there is reason to be worried," Anguimate said.

"I have spoken to high authorities in the country, notably the presidency of the republic. I've met the speaker of the National Assembly and raised this problem with the minister of public security," he added, stating that he was "obliged to take care of [his] own safety".

Contacted by AFP, the Central African authorities declined to make any comment on Anguimate's statements.

Anguimate was a minister several times under former president Ange-Felix Patasse, who held power from 1993 until he was ousted by current President Francois Bozize in 2003.

Anguimate left to live in France in 2001 and returned to Bangui in 2009 to mount his campaign for a presidential election due later this year. The date of the poll has yet to be fixed.

- SAPA