The Central African Republic has released a consultant for a United States-based NGO, ending a controversial detention tied to alleged contacts with armed militias.
Joseph Martin Figueira, a Belgian-Portuguese dual national working for Family Health International 360, was scheduled to return to Lisbon aboard a Portuguese military aircraft Tuesday.
Portuguese officials confirmed his release followed months of quiet diplomacy, underscoring the fragile balance between humanitarian work and security concerns in conflict-scarred regions.
Figueira was arrested in May 2024 and later sentenced to ten years of hard labour after authorities accused him of undermining state security.
Prosecutors alleged he conspired with fighters in the volatile Haut-Mbomou region, an eastern frontier bordering the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Authorities claimed he attempted to enlist militia support to capture Joseph Kony, the elusive leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army wanted for war crimes.
Kony, once feared across Central Africa, has not appeared publicly since 2006, leaving his whereabouts shrouded in rumour and fading battlefield memories.
Portugal’s foreign ministry said negotiations involving Lisbon, Brussels and European Union officials ultimately secured Figueira’s freedom after sustained diplomatic engagement behind closed doors.
The Central African Republic, independent from France since 1960, has endured decades of coups, rebellions and fragile governments struggling to assert national authority.
Recent security improvements have followed deployments by United Nations peacekeepers, Rwandan forces and Russian mercenaries linked to the Wagner group.
Despite these efforts, armed factions continue to haunt remote highways and eastern territories, where instability lingers like dust unsettled after a passing convoy.