2001 Central African Republic coup attempt

none 2001 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt 300px File:Location Central African Republic AU Africa.svg 27–28 May – mid–June, 2001 Bangui Coup fails Military is divided between pro-Patassé and pro-Bozizé factions Loyalists kill hundreds of ethnic Yakomas in Bangui 50,000 residents flee BanguiInternational Crisis Group Central African Republic: Anatomy of a Phantom State http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic/Central%20African%20Republic%20Anatomy%20of%20a%20Phantom%20State.pdf CrisisGroup.org International Crisis Group 24 July 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20140626162538/http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/africa/central-africa/central-african-republic/Central%20African%20Republic%20Anatomy%20of%20a%20Phantom%20State.pdf 26 June 2014 dead dmy-all Central African Republic Government of Central African RepublicLibyan Arab Jamahiriya 100 Libyan troops Chad Chadian troopsBBC Central African Republic profile - Timeline BBC News 20 April 2011 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13150044 26 July 2015Congolese rebels Army faction Ange-Félix PatasséAbel AbrouFrançois N'Djadder Bedaya André KolingbaFrançois Bozizé At least 59 killed in initial coup attempt.Around 300 Yakoma civilians murdered following coup On the night of 27–28 May 2001 a coup attempt was carried out by commandos of the Central African Armed Forces who attempted to overthrow incumbent president Ange-Félix Patassé. The coup attempt failed, but violence continued in the capital Bangui over the following days. It exacerbated mounting ethnic and political tensions in the Central African Republic. Coup attempt The residence of president Patassé was attacked by soldiers on the night of 27–28 May 2001. The attackers killed 18 loyalist soldiers, including 14 presidential guards whose throats were slit while they slept.11 They were deterred before dawn; however, fighting went on for multiple days in Bangui, Bimbo and the Kasaï military camp.164 According to Central African authorities, 59 people were killed during these clashes (25 military and 34 civilians). On 30 May, General André Kolingba (who had led the country in the past after coming to power in the 1981 coup) claimed responsibility for the attempted coup through Radio France Internationale and demanded that Patassé "resign and hand over power to him". 2002 Central African Republic: Refugees flee amid ethnic discrimination as perpetrators go unpunished https://www.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/RelatedRecords/CR2008_02917.PDF Amnesty International 19 January 20257 Patassé reacted by demoting Kolingba and four other officers to the rank of private. On June 1, Kolingba called on the other coup plotters to lay down arms and attempted to negotiate with Patassé, which the latter refused. Shortly afterwards, weapons were found in Kolingba's residence. 2 July 2001 Third report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on the situation in the Central African Republic and on the activities of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA) https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/444218?ln=en&v=pdf United Nations Digital Library United Nations Security Council 1–2 19 January 2025 Other officers who played a prominent role in the coup attempt included General Ngjengbot, Colonel Gamba, Major Saulet and Kolingba's son Lieutenant-Colonel Guy-Serge Kolingba.170 General François Bozizé, who fled to Chad after the coup attempt and who had already been involved in the 1982 coup attempt alongside Patassé himself,lxvi was also suspected to be involved. However, the Central African Republic dropped charges against him at the end of 2001.10–11 On 6 July, the Central African chief of staff Abel Abrou, General Francois N'Djadder Bedaya and Commander Yambi were killed. These killings were probably carried out by coup plotters, but may also have been the work of Patassé loyalists who saw them as a threat.11–12Compilation of the information available in the Global IDP Database of the Norwegian Refugee Council Norwegian Refugee Council/Global IDP Project 2005January 2025 Aftermath Trial After a long trial by the Central African criminal court against 680 defendants, Kolingba (who had fled to Uganda) and 21 of his associates, including 3 of his sons, were handed a death sentence in October 2002. 30 August 2002 Kolingba seeking temporary asylum in Uganda https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2002/08/30/kolingba-seeking-temporary-asylum-uganda The New Humanitarian 19 January 20257 Central African defense minister Jean-Jacques Démafouth was also arrested in connection to the coup. However, Démafouth was among the 49 acquitted in the 2002 trial for lack of evidence.CAR ex-minister acquitted in coup trial. BBC 7 October 2002. Mounting tensions The coup had the effect of dividing the country's armed forces into two opposing camps which went on to clash violently: one that supported Patassé and another that supported Bozizé.http://www.occupy.com/article/colonialism-coups-and-conflict-understanding-todays-violence-central-african-republic Colonialism, Coups and Conflict: Understanding Today's Violence in the Central African Republic 2 February 2015 In conjunction with this, existing ethnic tensions were worsened; Bozizé, a member of the Gbaya people, enjoyed support among fellow Gbaya.172 The Yakoma people, who had long held key administrative, military and financial positions in the country and who had been systematically favored during the presidency of Kolingba (himself a Yakoma),Bradshaw Richard Fandos-Rius Juan 2016 Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic Lanham Rowman & Littlefield 97808108799114Kłosowicz Robert 2016 Central African Republic: Portrait of a collapsed state after the last rebellion https://www.jstor.org/stable/24920246 African Studies 42 33–52 24920246 18 January 202537 were now targeted by the Patassé government in reprisal attacks. Hundreds of unarmed civilians, most of them Yakoma, were extrajudicially executed and about 80.000 fled to escape the violence. 18 July 2001 Central African Republic: Government should stop all extra-judicial executions https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/afr190052001en.pdf Amnesty International 19 January 2025Leaba Oscar 2001 La crise centrafricaine de l'été 2001 https://shs.cairn.info/revue-politique-africaine-2001-4-page-163 Politique Africaine 84 163–175 10.3917/polaf.084.0163 19 January 2025 subscription 16412–13 Several of these killings took place in broad daylight on the streets of Bangui.171 Over the course of the following two years, foreign fighters from Muammar Gaddafi's Libya as well as Congolese rebels from the MLC (led by Jean-Pierre Bemba) were deployed in combat against Bozizé loyalists. In exchange for Libyan involvement, Libya was promised the monopoly on diamond extraction.37 The MLC - partially composed of child soldiers - was later found guilty by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing war crimes during this intervention, including murder, rape, pillaging and torture.International Criminal Court May 23, 2008 http://www.legal-tools.org/en/doc/fb0728/ Situation In The Central African Republic In The Case Of The Prosecutor V. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo — Under Seal Urgent Warrant Of Arrest For Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo 3 June 2017 ICC-01/05-01/08-1-tENG-Corr 3 June 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170603115424/http://www.legal-tools.org/en/doc/fb0728/ live171 Bemba was arrested in connection to the war crimes in Belgium in 2008,dead http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/25/content_8248030.htm Former Congo rebel leader arrested for war crimes https://web.archive.org/web/20080528150320/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/25/content_8248030.htm 2008-05-28 Xinhua May 25, 2008 Wang Hongjiang "Former DR Congo leader arrested", BBC World News, 24 May 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20170320234653/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7418932.stm 2017-03-20 . but acquitted in 2018.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44418154 Jean-Pierre Bemba: Congo warlord's conviction overturned British Broadcasting Company 8 June 2018 27 June 2018 14 June 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180614234155/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44418154 live Forces loyal to Bozizé marched on Bangui in October 2002 in another failed coup attempt. Bozizé finally overthrew Patassé and took power in the 2003 coup. See also Central African Republic Bush War Central African Republic Civil War 2002 Central African Republic coup attempt 2003 Central African Republic coup d'état References June 2017 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt Central African Republic coup d'état attempt, 2001 Central African Republic coup d'état attempt Central African Republic coup d'état attempt Coup d'état attempt Category:Attempted coups d'état in the Central African Republic