Editing Central African Armed Forces (section)

==History==

===Role of military in domestic politics===
The military has played an important role in the history of [[Central African Republic]]. The immediate former president, General [[François Bozizé]] was a former army chief-of-staff and his government included several high-level military officers. Among the country's five presidents since independence in 1960, three have been former army chiefs-of-staff, who have taken power through [[coups d'état]]. No president with a military background has, however, ever been succeeded by a new military president.

The country's first president, [[David Dacko]] was [[Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état|overthrown]] by his army chief-of-staff, [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa]] in 1966. Following the [[Operation Caban|ousting]] of Bokassa in 1979, David Dacko was restored to power, only to be [[1981 Central African Republic coup d'état|overthrown once again]] in 1981 by his new army chief of staff, General [[André Kolingba]].

In 1993, [[Ange-Félix Patassé]] became the Central African Republic's first elected president. He soon became unpopular within the army, resulting in violent mutinies in 1996–1997. In May 2001, there was an [[2001 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt|unsuccessful coup attempt]] by Kolingba and once again Patassé had to turn to friends abroad for support, this time [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Libya]] and [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|DR Congo]]. Some months later, at the end of October, Patassé sacked his army chief-of-staff, François Bozizé, and attempted to arrest him. Bozizé then fled to [[Chad]] and gathered a group of rebels. In 2002, he seized [[Bangui]] for a short period, and in March 2003 took power in a [[2003 Central African Republic coup d'état|coup d'état]].<ref name="one">{{cite web|url=http://www.franceevasion.com/toutsavoir/pays-republique-centrafricaine.htm|title=– Histoire: République centrafricaine|work=franceevasion.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625065519/http://www.franceevasion.com/toutsavoir/pays-republique-centrafricaine.htm|archive-date=2007-06-25}}</ref>

===Importance of ethnicity===
When General Kolingba became president in 1981, he implemented an ethnicity-based recruitment policy for the administration. Kolingba was a member of the [[Yakoma people]] from the south of the country, which made up approximately 5% of the total population. During his rule, members of Yakoma were granted all key positions in the administration and made up a majority of the military. This later had disastrous consequences when Kolingba was replaced by a member of a northerner tribe, Ange-Félix Patassé.

===Army mutinies of 1996–1997===
Soon after the election 1993, Patassé became unpopular within the army, not least because of his inability to pay their wages (partly due to economic mismanagement and partly because [[France]] suddenly ended its economic support for the soldiers' wages). Another reason for the irritation was that most of FACA consisted of soldiers from Kolingba's ethnic group, the Yakoma. During Patassé's rule they had become increasingly marginalised, while he created militias favouring his own [[Gbaya people|Gbaya]] tribe, as well as neighbouring [[Sara people|Sara]] and Kaba. This resulted in army mutinies in 1996–1997, where fractions of the military clashed with the presidential guard, the ''Unité de sécurité présidentielle (USP)'' and militias loyal to Patassé.<ref name="two">{{cite web| url = http://www.sangonet.com/actu-snews/santeah/fich-RCA-unhcr2005.pdf| title = – UNDP: Fiche Pays: République centrafricaine (2005)| access-date = 2007-06-20| archive-date = 2020-08-29| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200829003225/http://www.sangonet.com/actu-snews/santeah/fich-RCA-unhcr2005.pdf| url-status = dead}}</ref>

* On April 18, 1996, between 200 and 300 soldiers mutinied, claiming that they had not received their wages since 1992–1993. The confrontations between the soldiers and the presidential guard resulted in 9 dead and 40 wounded. French forces provided support (Operation Almandin I) and acted as negotiators. The unrest ended when the soldiers were finally paid their wages by France and the President agreed not to start legal proceedings against them.
* On May 18, 1996, a second mutiny was led by 500 soldiers who refused to be disarmed, denouncing the agreement reached in April. French forces were once again called to Bangui (Operation Almadin II), supported by the militaries of Chad and [[Gabon]]. 3,500 foreigners were evacuated during the unrest, which left 43 persons dead and 238 wounded.
* On May 26, a peace agreement was signed between France and the mutineers. The latter were promised amnesty, and were allowed to retain their weapons. Their security was ensured by the French military.
* On November 15, 1996, a third mutiny took place, and 1,500 French soldiers were flown in to ensure the safety of foreigners. The mutineers demanded the discharge of the president.

On 6 December, a negotiation process started, facilitated by Gabon, [[Burkina-Faso]], Chad and [[Mali]]. The military — supported by the opposition parties — insisted that Patassé had to resign. In January, 1997, however, the [[Bangui Agreements]] were signed and the French EFAO troop were replaced by the 1,350 soldiers of the ''Mission interafricaine de surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB)''. In March, all mutineers were granted amnesty. The fighting between MISAB and the mutineers continued with a large offensive in June, resulting in up to 200 casualties. After this final clash, the mutineers calmed.<ref name="two" />

After the mutinies, President Patassé suffered from a typical "dictator's paranoia", resulting in a period of cruel terror executed by the presidential guard and various militias within the FACA loyal to the president, such as the Karako. The violence was directed against the Yakoma tribe, of which it is estimated that 20,000 persons fled during this period. The oppression also targeted other parts of the society. The president accused his former ally France of supporting his enemies and sought new international ties. When he strengthened his presidential guard (creating the FORSIDIR, see below), Libya sent him 300 additional soldiers for his own personal safety. When former President Kolingba [[2001 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt|attempted a coup d'état]] in 2001 (which was, according to Patassé, supported by France), the [[Movement for the Liberation of the Congo]] (MLC) of [[Jean-Pierre Bemba]] in DR Congo came to his rescue.<ref name="three">[http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/afr/central+african+republic!Open – Amnesty International: Amnesty International Report 2002] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813060557/http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2002.nsf/afr/central%2Bafrican%2Brepublic%21Open |date=August 13, 2007 }}</ref>

Crimes conducted by Patassé's militias and Congolese soldiers during this period are now being investigated by the [[International Criminal Court]], who wrote that "sexual violence appears to have been a central feature of the conflict", having identified more than 600 rape victims.<ref name="four">[https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/wl_africa_afp/icccentrafrica_070522145948 – Yahoo News: ICC to investigate Central African Republic sexual violence, 22 May 2007]{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>