African Kingdoms

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

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The modern African 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 restored independence in 1979. With its capital now at Bangui (since 1940), the state is neighboured to the north by Chad, to the north-east by Sudan, to the east by South Sudan, to the south by Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of the Congo, and to the west by Cameroon.

Tribal for millennia with no established state to refer to as its direct ancestor, 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, along with their tribal origins in and amongst various Adamawa-Ubangi-speaking peoples such as the Bandia, Nzakara, and Zande.

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 within 'French Equatorial Africa'.

The territory gained its own assembly in 1946 and had a native representative elected into the French parliament. It gained self-governance in 1958 and full independence in 1960 as Central African Republic. Hopeful beginnings soon descended into little more than a dictatorship under David Dacko. He was quickly removed by Jean-Bedel Bokassa who declared himself emperor and the republic as the 'Empire of Central Africa'.

When Bokassa was similarly removed in 1979, 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.

Its population of about five million witnessed the eruption in 2013 of a major security and humanitarian crisis, displacing over a quarter of the population. Democratic elections in 2016 supposedly ended three years of turmoil, despite the continued existence of the republic of Logone in the north-east. Afterwards the government began working with the International Monetary Fund and donors to effect proposed reforms and development programmes.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by John De Cleene and the John De Cleene Archive, and by Richard A Bradshaw & Juan Fandos-Rius, from Culture and Customs of the Central African Republic, Jacqueline Woodfrok (Greenwood Press, 2006), from Washington Post (Protests grow in Central African Republic, 24 March 2013, and Rebels move closer to Bangui, 24 March 2013, and Rebels patrol capital of Central African Republic, 27 March 2013), from San Francisco Chronicle (22 May 1996), and from External Links: BBC Country Profiles, and Central African Republic (Ifad), and Central African Republic (Rulers.org), and Central African Republic (Flags of the World), and Food shortages as rebels cut off capital (The Guardian), and Russian mercenaries behind human rights abuses (The Guardian), and Wagner mercenaries sustain losses (The Guardian), and CAR army and allies retake strategic town of Kaga-Bandoro (RFI, in French), and Dangerous Divisions (Enough Project).)

1979 - 1981

Returned to CAR power, now democratically. 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 again ousted. This time the coup is lead by the army commander, Andre Kolingba.

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

1981 - 1993

Military dictator (head of state from 1985). 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 1993 re-run of the elections 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 Jean-Bedel Bokassa, before standing down as president. French forces remain in the country until 1997 to ensure that democracy sticks this time.

1993 - 2003

President. MLPC.

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.

Despite making Chad a constructive force in terms of joining its neighbours in attempting to quell regional rebellions, Chad's recent President Idriss Déby was a more controversial figure at home, where he was killed by rebels shortly before he could give an acceptance speech following a sixth elections victory

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 finally 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 set up transitional rule.

2005

With a new constitution having been agree in the previous December (2004), May 2005 witnesses Bozize narrowly winning democratic elections following a run-off vote.

Central African Republic's President Francois Bozize was pictured here speaking during a news conference at the presidential palace in Bangui in 2013, but would later be removed from power and would return from exile to lead rebel forces in the early 2020s

2005- 2013

President, and former military ruler. Fled country.

2006 - 2007

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.

Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and Gabon send forces into Central African Republic to help the government halt a drive by the rebel 'Union for the Democratic Forces for Unity' (UFDR) to capture the capital of Bangui.

Air Centrafrique (from mid-1971) was the airline of Central African Republic between 1966 and the late 1970s, serving domestic routes from Bangui, and owning two entire aircraft in March 1970 until the fleet was expanded to three planes in 1977 before being closed down between 1978 and 1979 by the president due a dispute with French flight crew

The intervention fails. 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 which is internationally condemned.

2013 - 2014

Rebel who seized power. Interim president. Resigned.

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, a clear sign that the situation is worsening. Djotodia resigns though.

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 apart the various factions

2014

Interim president.

2014 - 2016

Leader of a transitional government.

2015

Maouloud Moussa is the spokesman of Noureddine Adam, FDPC leader in the country's north-east. He declares the creation there of the autonomous 'Republic of Logone' on 14 December 2015. He explains that the group first want to achieve autonomy within Central African Republic and then eventually achieve full independence.

2016

After a false start in 2015 with an election which 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.

2016 - On

President.

2017

CAR's continuing violence results in the highest level of civilian displacement since the start of the crisis in 2013. More than one million people have left their homes. By 2018 years of rebellion and mismanagement has reduced the government to ruling only the area around the capital of Bangui.

United Nations forces patrol Bangui in 2020, where peacekeepers and government forces clash with armed groups

More than a dozen armed groups and many local militias rule the rest of the country. These autonomous groups include the 'Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic' (or FPRC) at Kaga Bandoro, the centre of the autonomous Logone region in the north-central part of the country.

Areas of the region are also under the control of the 'Central African Patriotic Movement' (MPC), another faction of the former Islamist Seleka. The MPC administer customs, levy taxes, impose fines, and establish a gendarmerie.

2021

On 25 January 2021 it is reported that CAR's government and capital are cut off from humanitarian aid by rebels. A state of emergency is declared following the launch in December 2020 of a fresh assault by the new umbrella 'Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement' (or CPC).

This is protesting against the exclusion in forthcoming elections of former president, François Bozizé. He has led the reformed rebel movement since 2019 after returning from exile, but he faces government forces which are backed by a UN peacekeeping mission, while Wagner mercenaries from Russia muddy the waters by committing atrocities.

Russian mercenaries from Sewa Security, a private security company which served as a proxy for Russia's Wagner Group, on duty in Berengo, CAR

The emergency recedes and, in April 2021 the national army and its Wagner Group allies enter Kaga Bandoro in the early hours of Saturday 10 April 2021. This strategic trading hub has been in the hands of armed groups since 2014, serving as the capital of the autonomous republic of Logone. Most of the rebels have already withdrawn in good order.

2023

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group sustain heavy casualties in a new surge of fighting between government troops and rebels over the control of lucrative goldmines. Already guilty of several alleged massacres and now accused of virtually running the country from behind the scenes, the Russians are hated even more than the weakening president.