| 2003 CAR coup d'état | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Supporters ofFrançois BozizéAlleged support:  Chad(denied by Chad) |
 Libya | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Gen.François Bozizé[1] Abakar Sabone | PresidentAnge-Félix Patassé[1] | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Unknown | Central African Armed Forces[1] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,000[1] |
 370 soldiers[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown |
3 soldiers killed[1] | ||||||
Acoup d'état occurred in March 2003 in theCentral African Republic when the forces ofGeneralFrançois Bozizé marched onBangui, the country's capital, whilePresidentAnge-Félix Patassé was attending a regionalCommunity of Sahel–Saharan States leaders' summit inNiger.[3]
In 2001,a failed coup had taken place against the Patassé government. Officers includingAndré Kolingba and possibly Bozizé had been involved in this coup attempt.[4][5]: 10–11 After a long trial, the Central African criminal court handed adeath sentence to Kolingba (then in exile inUganda) and 21 other coup plotters in October 2002;[6] the charges against Bozizé had already been dropped in late 2001, although he was dismissed as army chief.[5]: 10–11
In the period that followed the coup attempt, political and ethnic tensions mounted. Militias that were loyal to Bozizé (who enjoyed support among theGbaya people[7]) clashed withLibyan troops as well asCongolese rebels from theMLC, both deployed by Patassé. The MLC troops committedwar crimes against civilians[8] and hundreds of unarmed civilians, most of themYakoma people, wereextrajudicially executed.[9]
On 25 October 2002, forces loyal to Bozizéinvaded Bangui. They withdrew after six days of fighting.[10] On 27 November 2002, armed forces recapturedBossembélé, killing five rebels and reopening the road toBouar.[11] On 7 December, armed forces recapturedDamara from rebels.[12] On 20 December armed forces recapturedBozoum. On 14 January 2003, Bouar was reportedly under rebel control.[13]
On Thursday, 13 March 2003, PresidentAnge-Félix Patassé left Bangui to attend a regionalCommunity of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN-SAD) summit inNiamey,Niger. He was accompanied by a delegation of approximately twenty people, including First LadyAngèle Patassé,Foreign MinisterMartial Beti Marace, and presidential advisorProsper Ndouba, who had recently been freed from rebel captivity just two months before.[3] The presidential delegation flew from Bangui to Niamey on board a LibyanDouglas DC-8, which had been loaned to Patassé by Libyan leaderMuammar Gaddafi for use on this trip.[3] Before his departure, the president's Chief of Staff, ColonelAntoine Gambi, assured Patassé thatFrançois Bozizé's militias were contained to the north of the country and were not a threat to Bangui during the trip.[3]
While Patassé was away, Bozizé led 1,000 fighters towards the capital city of Bangui. On Friday, 14 March 2003, the rebels captured the towns ofBossembélé andBouali, where President Patassé owned a small farm, en route to Bangui. Meanwhile, at the same time that rebels were marching on Bangui, President Patassé was in Niamey meeting with Gaddafi andChadPresidentIdriss Déby.[3]
Bozizé and his rebels entered Bangui on 15 March 2003, while President Patassé was still out of the country.[3] They captured theinternational airport and thepresidential palace. Government troops, many of whom had not been paid in months, put up little resistance. The 370CEMAC peacekeepers abandoned their posts rather than fight.
President Ange-Félix Patassé and his delegation had also intended to return to the Central African Republic on March 15, the same day that the rebels were seizing Bangui. However, the flight carrying President Patassé back to Bangui was delayed from taking off from Niger because First Lady Angèle Patassé was running late from a shopping trip in Niamey. While no one on board the presidential plane was aware of the ongoing coup at the time, the first lady's lengthy Niamey shopping trip "probably saved the couple's life," according to journalist François Soudan inJeune Afrique.[3]
Bozizé and his rebels occupiedBangui M'Poko International Airport just as Patassé's delayed aircraft was on approach to the airport. Had they attempted to land any sooner, Patassé and his presidential entourage likely would have been captured or shot down. Rebels shot at Patassé's plane as it approached Bangui, forcing the plane to divert toYaoundé Nsimalen International Airport outsideYaoundé,Cameroon. The deposed presidential delegation was taken to the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel, where Angèle and Ange-Félix Patassé learned that their two young children, Salomon and Providence, had been taken to safety at the French embassy in Bangui. The children were soon evacuated by aTransall C-160military transport aircraft toLibreville,Gabon, with other members of the Patassé family and theirTogolese servants. At least fifteen people were killed in the coup.[3]
A curfew was imposed afterwards by Bozizé and theconstitution was suspended. On Sunday, March 16, 2003, one day after taking power, François Bozizé proclaimed himself president of the Central African Republic.[3] He would go on to form a union government withAbel Goumba as prime minister, which ruled the country until the2005 election.[14] France deployed a number of troops to the country for the first time in four years in order to protect foreign nationals.[15] After the coup, Bozizé created a new division in theCentral African Armed Forces, made up of "patriots" who took part in the coup with him, called the Republican Guard. They committed numerous crimes against civilians in the capital.[16]
By Monday, March 17, 2003, international African support for Ange-Félix Patassé had faded. CameroonPresidentPaul Biya had refused to call or acknowledge Patassé, thoughFirst Lady of CameroonChantal Biya met with her former counterpart, Angèle Patassé, and sent the family African food as part of her condolences over the coup. GabonesePresidentOmar Bongo backpaddled from his initial support for French intervention in the Central African Republic, which Patassé calls "a betrayal."[3]
On Tuesday, March 18, 2003, two Cameroonian officials, Minister of State for Territorial AdministrationHamidou Marafa Yaya and Secretary General of the PresidencyJean-Marie Atangana Mebarao met with Patassé and told him to leave Cameroon within 48 hours. Cameroon President Paul Biya flew to the United States the next day having never called or met with Patassé.[3]
Patassé considered going toSouth Africa or Libya, before settling onTogo, where he had spent previously time in exile during the 1980s and met his Togolese second wife, Angèle Patassé. Togolese PresidentGnassingbé Eyadema welcomed the Patassés to the country.Malian PresidentAmadou Toumani Touré andSenegalese PresidentAbdoulaye Wade also offered invitations for Patassé to come to their countries.[3]
The Patassé family flew fromYaoundé toLomé,Togo, on March 19, 2003, to begin their exile from the Central African Republic.[3]
Militants fromChad were spotted among the rebel fighters. However, thePresident of Chad,Idriss Déby, denied providing any military support to Bozizé.[1][2] Shortly after the coup, Patassé openly accused Déby, whom he had met with in Niamey while it was taking place, of supporting Bozizé, as Chadian forces and other groups were reportedly looting parts of Bangui.[3] Patassé said that Chad has an economic interest in gaining control of Central Africanoil fields and that Déby hoped to annex the northern CAR for this purpose.[17] In relation to these accusations, theUSIP stated that "CAR and Chad have a history of harboring each other's insurgent groups".[18] More generally, foreignmercenaries played a large role in the power struggle between Patassé and Bozizé, with the former relying onLibyan andCongolese fighters and the latter on Chadian fighters.[19]: 41
After Bozizé took power, he and Déby went on to establish a strong political relationship, thereby aiming to "prevent closer cooperation between rebel groups on both sides of the border".[19]: 44
Republic of the Congo and
Gabon: Foreign ministers of the two countries visited General Bozizé after the coup, saying that they would negotiate with him.[2]Chad: ThePresident of Chad,Idriss Déby, denied allegations thatChadian troops helped Bozizé.[1]
