March 18 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Different sources have denied this Saturday that Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga was kidnapped on Friday night in the Central African Republic.
The Coalición de los Patriotas por el Cambio (CPC), an armed group accused of the kidnapping, has denied any type of intervention to detain the priest and explains that it was necessary to carry out controls before allowing the procession to pass, reports the RFI station.
The Bishop of Bambari, who was participating in the procession, has also denied the kidnapping and that any type of violence has taken place.
The militiamen stopped the religious when he was accompanied by the Bishop of Bambari or the parish priest of Bria at the exit of Ouadda when they were leaving for Ouanda Djallé, 100 kilometers away. There the cardinal was expected to lay the first stone of a church.
The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has participated in the negotiations. Neighbors of Ouanda Djallé have also put pressure on this and finally the procession was able to leave on Saturday morning.
The country’s prime minister, Félix Moloua, published a press release on Saturday morning in which he explained that he was following the situation “closely”.
