In this Feb 26, 2016 photo, a UN peacekeeper from Rwanda walks through the remnants of a looted and burnt clinic in the UN Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Malakal. (ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN / AFP)

BANGUI - With less than a week before the presidential and legislative elections in the Central African Republic (CAR), the government on Monday said Rwanda and Russia have deployed forces in the CAR to secure the electoral process.

Former president Francois Bozize, who served as head of state for 10 years, was ousted in March 2013 by the Seleka rebel coalition

According to government spokesperson Ange Maxime Kazagui, Rwanda and Russia have both sent "several hundred men" to the country.

The deployment was made "within the framework of bilateral cooperation," the foreign ministry said in a press release dated Sunday but made public early Monday.

Last Saturday, the government accused former president Francois Bozize of an "attempted coup," saying he organized armed groups and foreign mercenaries in the west of the country as a "clear intention to march with his men on Bangui," the CAR capital.

A spokesman of Bozize's Kwa Na Kwa party denied the government accusation, calling it a strategy to taint Bozize's image.

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Bozize, who served as head of state for 10 years, was ousted in March 2013 by the Seleka rebel coalition. After six years of exile, he returned to the country discreetly in December 2019 to compete in the coming presidential election.

However, the Constitutional Court invalidated his candidacy in early December, saying he faces an international arrest warrant and United Nations sanctions. Tensions have since intensified in the CAR.

Last week, some major armed groups created a new coalition, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), against the government of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who is seeking a second term.

Local observers say the CPC has a strong link with Bozize.