17 seconds ago 2009-12-09T10:55:02-08:00
BANGUI (AFP) – Central African Republic former president Ange-Felix Patasse, who returned from exile last month, met Monday with the man who deposed him and vowed to run for office next year.
Patasse met President Francois Bozize, who overthrew him in 2003 after 10 years in power.
"I reaffirm here that I will be a candidate in the presidential election of 2010," Patasse said in a statement.
"I would like to thank the head of state, who hosted me at length. We discussed the problems of our country," he said.
"He and I welcome this brotherly atmosphere. We were direct and clear, we understood each other perfectly. It is what I had hoped when I returned to the country," Patasse said.
Patasse, 72, returned from seven years in exile in Togo on October 30. He served as president from 1993 to March 2003, when he was deposed by General Bozize.
The former president had announced in late August that he would return to CAR to run in the election.
In June, Patasse was expelled from his party, the Central African People's Liberation Movement, which chose former prime minister Martin Ziguele as its presidential nominee.
