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 European traders. 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
small-scale 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 1, 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 a 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.
In September 2006, rebel activity in the northwestern and
northeastern part of the country intensified, resulting in the
government losing control over parts of its territory. The
subsequent fighting between government troops and rebels displaced
nearly 300,000 citizens. In January 2007, the Libyan Government
brokered a peace agreement between the government and the Democratic
Front of the Central African People (FPDC), a rebel group operating
in the northeastern part of the country headed by Abdoulaye Miskine.
Other rebels disavowed the peace agreement, but by May 2008, most
rebel groups had either entered into a peace agreement with the
government--the peace agreement with the Popular Army for the
Restoration of Democracy (APRD) being the most significant--or
declared a cease-fire. In June 2008, the government signed the
Comprehensive Peace Accord with the APRD and the Union of Democratic
Forces for Unity (UFDR), led by Zakaria Damane, in Libreville,
Gabon.
Implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Accord, particularly its
provisions granting amnesty for former fighters, furthered an
Inclusive Political Dialogue intended to help end instability in
C.A.R. In December 2008, the Inclusive Political Dialogue formally
convened and issued its recommendations, which included, among other
items, the establishment of a government of national unity and of an
independent electoral commission in advance of the 2010 elections.
In January 2009, a new coalition government was appointed. While
there was little change in the government’s composition, with key
ministers allied with the President remaining in place, some members
of the political opposition and rebel groups obtained ministerial
portfolios. |
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