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| - Central African Republic opposition leader Anicet Georges Dologuele, who came second in the December election won by President Faustin Archange Touadera, has been prevented from leaving the country, his spokesman said on Wednesday. Touadera was reelected December 27 in the first round of an election where barely one in three could cast their ballot because rebel groups control most of a country caught up in civil war. Dologuele was due to travel to France for medical reasons but was prevented by police from boarding his Air France flight in the capital Bangui, spokesman Christian Gazam Betty told AFP. Police had demanded an authorisation from the interior ministry for him to leave the country. Tensions have been high in the Central African Republic after the December election, before which government forces had pushed back a rebel offensive on the capital. Russian paramilitaries and Rwandan troops helped government forces recapture towns once held by fighters from an alliance of six militias, calling itself the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC). The government has accused former president Francois Bozize of attempting a coup with the CPC. "We are in a state of emergency, which means anyone who wants to leave the territory must report it before travelling, so that the authorities can (...) permit it or not," government spokesman Ange-Maxime Kazagui told AFP, confirming Dologuele was prevented from boarding. "We are conducting investigations within the framework of the attempted coup (...), measures have been taken and target in particular political figures," he said, without specifying whether those included Dologuele. Dologuele's spokesman said he had not been notified of any investigations. Most of the country is controlled by armed groups that emerged after a civil war erupted in 2013 following the overthrow of Bozize. His ouster sparked a war dividing the country largely along religious and ethnic lines, causing thousands of deaths and prompting around a quarter of the population to flee their homes. clt/gir/pma/lc
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