A former army chief and candidate in Congo Republic's presidential election earlier this year was arrested overnight, his opposition party said on Wednesday. The government of President Denis Sassou Nguesso has accused Mokoko, a one-time security advisor to the president, of involvement in an alleged coup attempt in 2007. Sassou Nguesso has ruled the oil producing central African nation for all but five of the past 37 years and won a disputed election in March. Authorities did not immediately comment on why they had detained General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, 69, a power broker in the former French colony's 1990s civil war. "This is clearly a desire to harm the general, who stood up to Sassou during the last presidential election," spokesman for the l'IDC-FROCAD party Guy Romain Kinfouissia said.

Source: The Star June 15, 2016 09:11 UTC