Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10BANGUI36
2010-02-08 13:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bangui
Cable title:  

CAR: FORMER PRESIDENT KOLINGBA DIES, LEAVES BEHIND A PARTY

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM PINR CT 
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FM AMEMBASSY BANGUI
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
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RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 1468
UNCLAS BANGUI 000036 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C
PARIS FOR RKANEDA
LONDON FOR PLORD
AFRICOM FOR JKUGEL
INR FOR JPEKKINEN
DRL FOR SCRAMPTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PINR CT
SUBJECT: CAR: FORMER PRESIDENT KOLINGBA DIES, LEAVES BEHIND A PARTY
IN CHAOS

UNCLAS BANGUI 000036

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/C
PARIS FOR RKANEDA
LONDON FOR PLORD
AFRICOM FOR JKUGEL
INR FOR JPEKKINEN
DRL FOR SCRAMPTON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PINR CT
SUBJECT: CAR: FORMER PRESIDENT KOLINGBA DIES, LEAVES BEHIND A PARTY
IN CHAOS


1. (SBU) Former Central African President Andre Kolingba, who
ruled the country from 1981 to 1993, died in Paris on February
7, 2010 after a long illness. Coming to power in a coup d'etat,
General Kolingba ruled the CAR as a one party state until forced
into elections in 1993. A former Ambassador to Canada and
Germany, as well as Chief of Staff of the Army, Kolingba become
the head of state when then President David Dacko relinquished
the presidency in a bloodless coup. Former U.S. Ambassador to
the CAR Daniel Simpson played a large role in Kolingba's
eventual fall from power, being a central driver in calling for
the country's first democratic presidential elections that
brought Ange Felix Patasse into office. Kolingba's legacy is
underwhelming: he is blamed for the introduction of ethnicity
into politics, rarely meeting government pay rolls, and for
fomenting coups against Patasse after leaving office. In 2005,
the former President, who ran against Bozize, demanded five
billion CFA (USD 10 million) from Bozize in exchange for support
during runoff elections. The former President was even sentenced
to death in absentia in 2001, though he received a pardon by
President Bozize in 2003.


2. (SBU) Kolingba's death comes at a time when his political
party, the Central African Democratic Union (RDC),is in a state
of chaos. Currently in the opposition National Union of
Concerned Citizens (UFVN),the party is torn between remaining
with the coalition and joining President Bozize's KNK party.
Just last week the party fired the head of the directory
committee after he unilaterally pulled the entity out of the
UFVN. Most of its prominent members defected to President
Bozize's cause in 2003. Kolingba's son, Desire, joined Bozize's
government in 2003 and is currently Minister of Parliamentary
Cooperation after serving as Minister of Youth, Culture and
Sport (NOTE: Kolingba's other son, Guy, a military officer, was
originally named the Minister of Youth, but was fired some weeks
later by Bozize when the President realized that he meant to
name Desire. END NOTE).


3. (SBU) Kolingba's health deteriorated steadily over the last
two years, though many still thought he would try and run for
the presidency in 2010. His death in not expected to cause any
civil unrest in Bangui, but post suspects that President Bozize
will probably use the funeral to present himself as an heir to
regimes past and rally more members of the RDC to his banner in
anticipation of the upcoming elections.

COOK