CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

      Keys events


             

 

1958 (1 December)

Proclamation of the Central African Republic. Barthélémy Boganda President.

 

1959 (16 February)

Death of Barthélémy Boganda in a plane accident. Abel Goumba interim President.

 

1960 (13 August)

Independence of the Central African Republic.

 

1960 (14 August)

David Dacko is elected President of the Republic.

 

1964 (8 December)

Creation in Brazzaville of the Customs Union of the States of Central Africa comprising Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, the Central African Republic and Chad, with its headquarters based in Bangui.

 

1966 (1 January)

Military coup d’état. Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa seizes power.

 

1966 (4 January)

Constitution abrogated.

 

1968 (2 April)

Creation of the Union of the States of Central Africa: Congo-Kinshasa, Chad and the Central African Republic.

 

1969 (11 April)

Attempted coup d’état by Lieutenant-Colonel Alexandre Banza.

 

1970 (30 August)

Agrarian reform.

 

1972 (2 March)

Jean-Bedel Bokassa is made President for life.

 

1973 (7 April)

Discovery of a plot. Ex-minister Auguste M’Bongo arrested.

 

1974 (19 May)

Jean-Bedel Bokassa is promoted to the rank of Marshal.

 

1974 (December)

Attempted coup d’état by General Lingoupou.

 

1976 (3 February)

Marshal Bokassa escapes an assassination attempt.

 

1976 (5 September)

Marshal Bokassa dissolves the government and creates the Council of the Central African Revolution (Conseil de la Révolution Centrafricaine – CRC).

 

1976 (September)

David Dacko, former President, becomes an advisor of Marshal Bokassa.

 

1976 (4 December)

Proclamation of the Central African Empire at the Extraordinary Congress of the MESAN (Mouvement pour l’évolution sociale de l’Afrique Noire – Movement for the Social Development of Black Africa).

 

1977 (6 January)

Membership of MESAN becomes obligatory.

 

1977 (4 December)

Coronation of Bokassa I.

 

1979 (January)

Student riots repressed with bloodshed.

 

1979 (17/19 April)

Arrests and murders of children. A commission of enquiry concludes that Jean-Bedel Bokassa did take part in these massacres.

 

1979 (20/21 September)

Coup d’état. David Dacko seizes power while Jean-Bedel Bokassa is in Libya. France sends troops (Operation Barracuda).

 

1979 (26 September)

Mr Ayando entrusted with the mission of forming the new government.

 

1979 (29 October)

Pupil and student demonstration.

 

1979 (3 November)

Arrest of Ange Patassé, former Prime Minister under Jean-Bedel Bokassa, leader of the opposition and of the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People (Mouvement de libération du peuple centrafricain – MLPC).

 

1980 (20 March)

Creation by David Dacko of the single party, the Central African Democratic Union (Union démocratique centrafricaine – UDC).

 

1980 (24 December)

Jean-Bedel Bokassa sentenced to death in absentia.

 

1981 (1 February)

Referendum on the project for a new Constitution. Adopted by a large majority.

 

1981 (15 March)

Presidential election. David Dacko is elected (50.23%) ahead of Ange Patassé (38.11%).

 

1981 (3 April)

Simon Narcisse Bozanga appointed Prime Minister.

 

1981 (May-July)

Strikes, explosion in Bangui. State of Siege decreed.

 

1981 (1 September)

General André Kolingba forces President David Dacko to resign. The Constitution is suspended and political parties banned. General André Kolingba becomes President of the Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité militaire de redressement national – CMRN).

 

1982 (3 March)

Attempted coup d’état by Ange Patassé.

 

1985 (21 September)

The CMRN is disbanded. New government put together with several civilians in its ranks.

 

1986 (24 October)

Return of Jean-Bedel Bokassa to the Central African Republic. He is arrested.

 

1986 (21 November)

Referendum on the new Constitution stipulating the election of the President for six years, the creation of an Assembly and a single party.

 

1987 (12 June)

At the end of a trial of several months, Jean-Bedel Bokassa is condemned to death. His sentence is commuted to life imprisonment on 29 February 1988 and then to ten years.

 

1991 (20 March)

Appointment of a Prime Minister, Edouard Frank.

 

1992 (25 October)

Presidential and general elections. Suspended on 26 October and then cancelled on the 29th by the Supreme Court.

 

1993 (17 January)

Creation of a Provisional National Political Council of the Republic (Conseil national politique provisoire de la République – CNPPR).

 

1993 (1 August)

Release of Jean-Bedel Bokassa.

 

1993 (22 August)

First round of the presidential and general elections. Ange Patassé comes in first (30%) while André Kolinga is in fourth position (13%).

 

1993 (28 August)

André Kolingba orders the modification of the Supreme Court and the Electoral Code. France suspends its collaboration with the country. Orders cancelled on 30 August.

 

1993 (19 September)

Second round of the elections. Ange Félix Patassé (38%) is elected President of the Republic against David Dacko (21%) and Abel Goumba (20%).

 

1993 (24 October)

Jean-Luc Mandaba appointed Prime Minister.

 

1994 (28 December)

Referendum on the new Constitution. Very low turnout.

 

1995 (11 April)

Resignation of Jean-Luc Mandaba. Gabriel Koyambounou is appointed Prime Minister.

 

1996 (April-May)

First mutinies by soldiers demanding payment of the arrears on their salaries. Violent clashes between the mutineers and troops faithful to the government.

 

1996 (May)

Start of a series of strikes that bring the country to a standstill. Civil servants demand payment of arrears on their salaries.

 

1996 (5 June)

The participants of the “Convention of living forces of the nation” sign a protocol agreement opening the way to a government of national union.

 

1996 (6 June)

Jean-Paul Ngoupandé appointed Prime Minister.

 

1996 (18 June)

The opposition refuses to participate in the government of national union being put together.

 

1996 (3 November)

Death of Jean-Bedel Bokassa.

 

1996 (Nov.)-1997 (Jan.)

New mutinies and demonstrations. The French army is present alongside the Presidential Guards.

 

1997 (30 January)

Michel Gbezera-Bria replaces Jean-Paul Ngoupandé as Prime Minister. The new government that follows (appointed on 18 February) includes a large number of opposition members – 11 out of 26, compared with 12 for the majority.

 

1997 (12 February)

An inter-African force, the MISAB (Mission d’Intervention et de Surveillance des Accords de Bangui) replaces the French military intervention.

 

1997 (July)

Ceasefire agreements between the mutineers and the MISAB. Beginning of a “meeting of reconciliation”.

 

1997 (1 September)

Return to the government of the 9 opposition ministers who had withdrawn on 5 May.

 

1998 (26 February)

Opening of the Conference of National Reconciliation in Bangui.

 

1998 (4 March)

Adoption of a pact of national reconciliation.

 

1998 (15 April)

The Mission of the United Nations in the Central African Republic (MINURCA) takes over from the MISAB. A force of 1,350 is entrusted with the mission of reinforcing security and maintaining order.

 

1998 (22 November)

First round of the general elections. The MLPC wins 26 seats out of 42.

 

2000 (15 February)

Final departure of the MINURCA.

 

2000 (17 April)

Prime Minister Anicet-Georges Dologuuélé carries out a partial reshuffle of the government.

 

 

Update currently in preparation.

 

Sources used

Afrique contemporaine, quarterly review (La Documentation Française)

AFP Afrique: daily news bulletin from Africa –Agence France Presse

Press Files from the CEAN Document Centre.

 

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