The founding father and president of the Counseil de Gouvernment,, Berthelemy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident in 1959, just eight days before the last electionsof the colonial era . On 13th. Aug. 1960 the central Africanrepublic gained its independence and two of Boganda's closest aides, Abel Goumba and David dacko, became involved in a power struggle. With the backing of the French , Dacko took power and soon had Goumba arrested. By 1962 President Dacko had established a one-party state.
On 31st Dec. 1965 Dacko was overthrown in the Saint-Sylvestre coupd'etat by Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National assembly. President Bokassa declared himself president for life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on Dec. 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world. his regime was characterised by numerous human rights atrocities which followed a riot in Bangui causing 50 to 200 schoolchildren to die. In 1979 France carried out a coup against Bokassa and restored Dacko to power. Dacko, in turn, was overthown in a coup by General Andre Kolingba on Sept. 1981. dacko's economic and political reforms proved in-effective. He was overthrown by a bloodless coup by general Andre Kolingba. For four years Kolingba led the country as the head of the military committee for natinal recovery. In 1985 CRMN was dissolved kolingba introduced a civilian rule and drafted a new constitution which was passed by national referendom. Kolingba sworn in as a president and in an election established a national assembly with52 elected deputies in 1987.
Due to mounting political presure, in 1991 President kalingba announced the creation of National Commission to rewrite the constitution to provide for a multiparty system. Internal international presure led to multi-party presidential elections being held in 1992.But govt. to prolong their stay in the office nullify the result of the election and a rescheduled elections were held in oct.1993. Again with the help of the international community Ange-felix Poatasse won a second -round victory.for another 6 years.salry arrears, labor unrest,and unequal treatment of military officers from different ethnic groups were the causes for three mutinies. in March 2000 bangui at last departed.in 2003 rebels who cotroled part of the country moved into Bangui and installed their general francois Bozize as their president who won a fair election in may 2005. car became the fourth country to be placed on the agenda of the UN peacekeeping Commission set up in 2005. the secretary general ban ki-moondeclared in 2008 that CAR was eligible to get assistance from the Peace Building fund of UN.
