African Kingdoms

Modern Central African Republic
AD 1979 - Present
Incorporating Heads of State (1979-2025)

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The modern Central African Republic is rich in diamonds, gold, oil, and uranium but has one of the world's poorest populations thanks to continued instability since it achieved independence in 1979. With its capital now at Bangui (since 1940), the state is neighboured to the north by Chad, to the east by Sudan, to the south-east by Zaire, to the south-west by Congo, and to the west by Cameroon.

Tribal for millennia with no established state of its own, much of modern Central African Republic was formed out of various minor modern-era sultanates, such as those of Bangassou, Dar al-Kuti, Rafaï, and Zémio. Central Africa was poorly defined as a cohesive region until the creation of colonial-era territories. That era came when the sultanates were suppressed by the French, one by one, mostly in the early years of the twentieth century. A centralised republic was formed by the name of the 'Federation of French Equatorial Africa'.

In 1946 the territory gained its own assembly and had a native representative elected into the French parliament. It gained self-governance in 1958 and full independence in 1960, but quickly descended into little more than a dictatorship under David Dacko. He was soon removed by Bokassa who declared himself emperor and the republic was now the 'Empire of Central Africa'. When Bokassa was similarly removed, the republic was reborn (its name often abbreviated to CAR in news and official correspondence). Its troubles though, would continue. Such is the country's continued instability that its former French colonial masters have never truly been able to leave, with a military presence seemingly permanent.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Richard A Bradshaw and Juan Fandos-Rius, from Culture and Customs of the Central African Republic, Jacqueline Woodfrok (Greenwood Press, 2006), and from External Link: BBC Country Profiles.)

1979 - 1981

Returned to power, democratically this time. Deposed again.

1981

Fresh from removing one dictator - Jean-Bedel Bokassa - and now with a degree of French backing thanks to Bokassa's atrocities, Dacko is ousted again. This time the coup is lead by the army commander, Andre Kolingba.

1981 - 1993

Military dictator. Lost elections.

1992 - 1993

October 1992 sees multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections held in which Kolingba comes last - clearly not having learned how to rig an election as dictator. The results are soon annulled by the supreme court on the grounds of widespread irregularities. A re-run of the elections in 1993 sees Ange-Felix Patasse beat both Kolingba and Dacko to become president, ending twelve years of military rule. Kolingba releases several thousand political prisoners, including Bokassa, before standing down as president. French forces remain in the country until 1997 to ensure that democracy sticks this time.

The newly-independent Central African Republic's first democratically-elected president was David Dacko, here shown on the cover of a French-language special edition seven inch vinyl record

2001

In May at least fifty-nine are killed in an abortive coup attempt by former president Andre Kolingba. President Patasse suppresses the attempt with help of Libyan and Chadian troops and Congolese rebels. November witnesses clashes as troops try to arrest sacked army chief-of-staff General Francois Bozize, who has been accused of involvement in May's coup attempt. Thousands flee fighting between government troops and Bozize's forces.

2002 - 2003

October 2002 sees Libyan-backed forces helping to subdue an attempt by forces loyal to General Bozize to overthrow President Patasse. Still unsafe, Patasse is ousted in March 2003. Bozize seizes Bangui, declares himself president, and dissolves parliament. Patasse is out of the country at the time. Within weeks a transitional government is set up.

2003 - 2005

Military general. Led a coup, but soon set up transitional rule.

2005 - 2007

With a new constitution having been agree in the previous December, May 2005 witnesses Bozize narrowly winning elections after a run-off vote. In October 2006 rebels seize Birao, a town in the north-east of the country, and French fighter jets are forced to take part in attacks on rebel positions as France attempts to support the democratically-elected government during the Central African Republic Bush War. The rebels sign a peace accord which ends the fighting in 2007.

2012 - 2013

A new Seleka rebel coalition rapidly overruns the north and centre of the country by November 2012, sparking a fresh round of civil war. In March 2013 the rebels overrun the capital and seize power. President Bozize flees while rebel leader Michel Djotodia suspends the constitution and dissolves parliament in a coup that is internationally condemned.

2013 - 2014

Rebel who seized power. Interim president. Resigned.

2012 - 2013

Djotodia is sworn in as interim president while the outside world is warning that CAR poses a risk to regional stability. UN chief Ban Ki-moon says CAR has suffered a 'total breakdown of law and order'. Djotodia dissolves the Seleka coalition in November 2013 after being criticised for failing to control his fighters. Also from late in 2013, neighbouring Chad begins to play host to tens of thousands of refugees who have been fleeing the fighting in CAR.

Warfare in Central African Republic has become endemic, with millions fleeing the violence and UN troops seemingly a permanent fixture as they attempt to keep the various factions apart

2014

Interim president.

2014 - 2016

Leader of a transitional government.

2016 - 2017

After a false start in 2015 with an election that had been cancelled due to perceived irregularities, Faustin-Archange Touadera, a well-respected peacemaker and former mathematics professor, now wins a fresh election in the run-offs. However, kidnappings by Lords Resistance Army reportedly increase across 2016. By 2017 CAR's continuing violence results in the highest level of displacement since the start of the crisis in 2013. More than one million people have left their homes.