Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has stated that he will not extradite Francois Bozize, the former leader of the Central African Republic (CAR), who faces an international arrest warrant for possible crimes against humanity.

A special UN-backed court in Bangui issued the arrest warrant for Bozize last month as part of an investigation into alleged “crimes against humanity” committed by his presidential guard between 2009 and 2013.

Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup in CAR before being ousted a decade later, currently leads the country’s main rebellion and has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023.

President Embalo stated, “I’m not going to extradite him because there is no agreement between our two countries to that effect. Unless Bozize himself decides to go elsewhere.”

Embalo expressed surprise at the arrest warrant issued by Central African authorities, stating, “It’s not what I expected, because it’s not what (Central African) President (Faustin Archange) Touadera and I said.”

The alleged crimes include murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape, and other inhumane acts, according to the Special Criminal Court (CPS) in Bangui, which operates with Central African and foreign magistrates.

The CPS, established in 2015 with UN sponsorship, is responsible for investigating war crimes committed since 2003 in the CAR, which has faced civil wars and authoritarian regimes since gaining independence from France in 1960.

Bozize was sentenced in absentia in September to forced labor for life for conspiracy, rebellion, and murder.