François Bozizé

François Bozizé Yangouvonda (born 14 October 1946) is a Central African politician who served as President of the Central African Republic from 2003 to 2013. He is the only Central African president to have been born in what is now Gabon.

Bozizé rose through the ranks of the military under Emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa, becoming a high-ranking officer in the 1970s. After Bokassa was overthrown, Bozizé held government posts as Minister of Defense (1979–1981) and Minister of Information (1981–1982). He took part in a failed coup against President André Kolingba in 1982 and fled the country. He later returned to serve as Army Chief of Staff under President Ange-Félix Patassé, but turned against him in 2001, launching a rebellion. In March 2003, while Patassé was abroad, Bozizé’s forces seized the capital, Bangui, and he took power, leading a transitional government. He won the 2005 presidential election in a runoff and was re-elected in the first round of the 2011 election.

In December 2012, a new rebellion erupted, accusing Bozizé of failing to honor peace deals from the 2007 Central African Bush War. On 24 March 2013, rebel forces attacked Bangui and captured the presidential palace, prompting Bozizé to flee to Cameroon via the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was housed there by Cameroonian President Paul Biya. On 29 May 2013, the Central African Republic issued an international arrest warrant for him.

Bozizé, a member of the Gbaya people, was born in Gabon and trained at a military officers’ college in Bouar, Central African Republic. He became a second lieutenant in 1969 and a captain in 1975. Bokassa promoted him to brigadier general in 1978 after Bozizé beat a French noncommissioned officer who had insulted the emperor. Alongside General Josyhat Mayomokala, Bozizé ordered troops to attack young demonstrators demanding their parents’ back pay. After Bokassa was ousted by David Dacko in 1979, Bozizé became Minister of Defense following the French operation that removed Bokassa (Operation Barracuda).

When Kolingba took power in 1981, Bozizé was made Minister of Information. After his involvement in a failed coup attempt led by Patassé on 3 March 1982, he fled north with 100 soldiers, accused Kolingba of treason on Radio Bangui, and then sought refuge in France. He later lived in Benin, where he became a devout follower of the Celestial Church of Christ. Arrested in Cotonou in July 1989, he was imprisoned and tortured. Tried by Kolingba for helping a coup attempt, he was acquitted on 24 September 1991 and released on 1 December. He then returned to France for nearly two years.

Under pressure to democratize, Kolingba formed a political party and held a referendum, winning a six-year term. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, internal and external pressures forced him to adopt democratic reforms. In March 1991, he appointed Édouard Frank as prime minister but gave him little power, and set up a commission to revise the constitution. International donors, through the group GIBAFOR (France, USA, Germany, Japan, EU, World Bank, and UN), including US Ambassador Daniel H. Simpson, pressed for fair elections. The 1992 election was sabotaged by Kolingba after he realized he would lose, and the Constitutional Council canceled it. Under continued pressure, a new election was held in September 1993. Bozizé ran as an independent, receiving 12,159 votes (1.5%). Patassé and Abel Goumba advanced to a runoff, which Patassé won with 53.49%.

Bozizé was long seen as a Patassé supporter, helping suppress army mutinies in 1996 and 1997 and serving as Armed Forces Chief of Staff. After a coup attempt against Patassé on 28 May 2001 was defeated with Libyan and Congolese help, Bozizé’s loyalty came under suspicion. He was dismissed as Army Chief of Staff in late October 2001. When the government tried to arrest him on 3 November, fighting erupted; after five days, government forces and Libyan troops captured his barracks, and Bozizé fled north to Chad. Skirmishes between his rebels and government forces continued through 2002.