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Central African Republic opposition leader denounces seizure of his passport

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Central African Republic’s former prime minister and major opposition figure, Anicet Georges Dologuélé, criticized the confiscation of his diplomatic passport as an abuse of power on Wednesday.

Dologuélé, who served as prime minister between 1999 and 2001, said he was not allowed to board a flight to an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.

“It was at the airport that I learned I was forbidden from leaving the country after being declared stateless in my own country,” he told a news conference in capital Bangui.

He is on the board of directors for the African Union Peace Fund, a role he has held since 2018.

Dologuélé renounced his French citizenship last year in line with the country’s constitution to contest President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who ran for a third term last year.

Dologuélé denounced last year’s election as “very far from the truth” and has regularly criticized Touadéra. He won 13.1% of the votes according to the country’s electoral body.

He has since used his diplomatic passport accorded to him as a former prime minister, claiming the government has refused to issue him a new passport.

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Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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