HISTORY
The C.A.R. appears to have been settled
from at least the 7th century on by overlapping empires, including
the Kanem-Bornou, Ouaddai, Baguirmi, and Dafour groups based in
Lake Chad and the Upper Nile. Later, various sultanates claimed
present-day C.A.R, using the entire Oubangui region as a slave
reservoir, from which slaves were traded north across the Sahara
and to West Africa for export by the Europeans. Population migration
in the 18th and 19th centuries brought new migrants into the area,
including the Zande, Banda, and Baya-Mandjia.
In 1875 the Egyptian sultan Rabah
governed Upper-Oubangui, which included present-day C.A.R. Europeans,
primarily the French, German, and Belgians, arrived in the area
in 1885. The French consolidated their legal claim to the area
through an 1887 convention with Congo Free State, which granted
France possession of the right bank of the Oubangui River. Two
years later, the French established an outpost at Bangui, and
in 1894, Oubangui-Chari became a French territory. However, the
French did not consolidate their control over the area until 1903
after having defeated the forces of the Egyptian sultan, Rabah,
and established colonial administration throughout the territory.
In 1906, the Oubangui-Chari territory was united with the Chad
colony; in 1910, it became one of the four territories of the
Federation of French Equatorial Africa (A.E.F.), along with Chad,
Congo (Brazzaville), and Gabon. The next 30 years were marked
by smallscale revolts against French rule and the development
of a plantation-style economy.
In August 1940, the territory responded,
with the rest of the A.E.F., to the call from Gen. Charles de
Gaulle to fight for Free France. After World War II, the French
Constitution of 1946 inaugurated the first of a series of reforms
that led eventually to complete independence for all French territories
in western and equatorial Africa. In 1946, all A.E.F. inhabitants
were granted French citizenship and allowed to establish local
assemblies. The assembly in C.A.R. was led by Barthelemy Boganda,
a Catholic priest who also was known for his forthright statements
in the French Assembly on the need for African emancipation. In
1956 French legislation eliminated certain voting inequalities
and provided for the creation of some organs of self-government
in each territory. The French constitutional referendum of September
1958 dissolved the A.E.F., and on December 1 of the same year
the Assembly declared the birth of the Central African Republic
with Boganda as head of government. Boganda ruled until his death
in a March 1959 plane crash. His cousin, David Dacko, replaced
him, governing the country until 1965 and overseeing the country's
declaration of independence on August 13, 1960.
On January 1, 1966, following a swift
and almost bloodless coup, Col. Jean-Bedel Bokassa assumed power
as president of the Republic. Bokassa abolished the constitution
of 1959, dissolved the National Assembly, and issued a decree
that placed all legislative and executive powers in the hands
of the president. On December 4, 1976, the republic became a monarchy
with the promulgation of the imperial constitution and the proclamation
of the president as Emperor Bokassa I. His regime was characterized
by numerous human rights atrocities.
Following riots in Bangui and the
murder of between 50 and 200 schoolchildren, former President
Dacko led a successful French-backed coup against Bokassa on September
20, 1979. Dacko's efforts to promote economic and political reforms
proved ineffectual, and on September 20, 1981, he in turn was
overthrown in a bloodless coup by Gen. Andre Kolingba. For 4 years,
Kolingba led the country as head of the Military Committee for
National Recovery (CRMN). In 1985 the CRMN was dissolved, and
Kolingba named a new cabinet with increased civilian participation,
signaling the start of a return to civilian rule. The process
of democratization quickened in 1986 with the creation of a new
political party, the Rassemblement Democratique Centrafricain
(RDC), and the drafting of a new constitution that subsequently
was ratified in a national referendum. General Kolingba was sworn
in as constitutional President on November 29, 1986. The constitution
established a National Assembly made up of 52 elected deputies,
elected in July 1987. Due to mounting political pressure, in 1991
President Kolingba announced the creation of National Commission
to rewrite the constitution to provide for a multi-party system.
Multi-party presidential elections were conducted in 1992 but
were later cancelled due to serious logistical and other irregularities.
Ange Felix Patasse won a second-round victory in rescheduled elections
held in October 1993, and was re-elected for another 6-year term
in September 1999.
Salary arrears, labor unrest, and unequal treatment of military officers from different ethnic groups led to three mutinies against the Patasse government in 1996 and 1997. The French succeeded in quelling the disturbances, and an African peacekeeping force (MISAB) occupied Bangui until 1998 when they were relieved by a UN peacekeeping mission (MINURCA). Economic difficulties caused by the looting and destruction during the 1996 and 1997 mutinies, energy crises, and government mismanagement continued to trouble Patasse's government through 2000. In March 2000 the last of the MINURCA forces departed Bangui. In May 2001 rebel forces within the C.A.R. military, led by former President and Army General Andre Kolingba, attempted a military coup. After several days of heavy fighting, forces loyal to the government, aided by a small number of troops from Libya and the Congolese rebel Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), were able to put down the coup attempt. In November 2001, there were several days of sporadic gunfire between members of the Presidential Security Unit and soldiers defending sacked Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Francois Bozize, who fled to Chad. In mid-2002 there were skirmishes on the C.A.R.-Chad border.
In October 2002, former Army Chief of Staff Francois Bozize launched a coup attempt that culminated in the March 15, 2003 overthrow of President Patasse and the takeover of the capital. General Bozize declared himself President, suspended the constitution, and dissolved the National Assembly. Since seizing power, President Francois Bozize has made significant progress in restoring order to Bangui and parts of the country, and professed a desire to promote national reconciliation, strengthen the economy, and improve the human rights situation. A new constitution was passed by referendum in December 2004. In spring 2005, the country held its first elections since the March 2003 coup. The first round of presidential and legislative elections were held in March 2005, and in May, President Bozize defeated former Prime Minister Martin Ziguele in a second-round runoff. On June 13, Bozize named Elie Dote, an agricultural engineer who had worked at the African Development Bank, his new Prime Minister. Following a country-wide strike, Elie Dote resigned on January 18, 2008. Humanitarian emergencies continued to plague the north of C.A.R., as unrest and fighting between rebel groups and government troops displaced nearly 300,000 citizens.
