Central African Republic (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

Central African Republic République centrafricaine Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum OTL equivalent: Central African Republic, Chad, and Congo-Brazzavile
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  Unité, Dignité, Travail (French) ("Unity, Dignity, Work")
Anthem:  La Renaissance
Capital		Brazzaville
Other cities		Bangui; Fort-Lamy
Official languages		French
Other languages		Sangho; Sara; Fang; Kongo; Arabic
Ethnic groups		Baya; Sara; Arabs; Fang; Kongo; French
Religion		Islam, Christianity, Traditional religion
Demonym		Central African; Centroafrican
Government		Federal state; Semi-presidential constitutional republic
-	President
-	Prime Minister
Legislature		National Assembly of the Central African Republic
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	Chamber of Deputies
Establishment
-	Independence from France	August 13, 1960
Population
-	estimate	30,824,110
Currency		Central African franc (XAF)
Time zone		WAT (UTC+1)
Internet TLD		.cf
Calling code		+241

The Central African Republic (CAR; French: République centrafricaine) is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, by the United Arab Republic to the northeast, by the Congo to the south, by Nigeria, Cameroon, Rio Muni and the West African Federation to the west and by the Portuguese province of Angola to the southwest. The Central African Republic is a member of the French Community, the United Nations, the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie and the Non-Aligned Movement. The country's capital and largest city is Brazzaville.

History

Post-war transition (1946–1956)

Map of French Equatorial Africa, ca. 1937.

Following World War II, the French Constitution of 1946 brought in the first in a series of reforms that would eventually result in complete independence for all French colonies in western and equatorial Africa. All locals in French Equatorial Africa (Afrique-Équatoriale française, AEF) were awarded French citizenship and the right to form local assemblies in 1946. These expanded political rights of Equatorial African citizens led to the rise of several prominent local politicians, such as Barthélemy Boganda in Ubangi-Shari and Jean Félix-Tchicaya in the French Congo.

Boganda, an ordained Catholic priest, was elected to the French National Assembly in 1946 as a deputy for Chad-Ubangi-Shari. He aligned with the Gaullist party, the Popular Republican Movement (Mouvement Républicain Populaire, MRP). Similarly, in the French Congo, Jean Félix-Tchicaya was elected to the National Assembly in 1946 for the Gabon-French Congo constituency. Félix-Tchicaya aligned himself with the French West Africa-based African Democratic Rally (Rassemblement Démocratique Africain, RDA), which in turn allied with the French Communist Party.

Barthélemy Boganda (1910–1970), the founding father of the Central African Republic.

During his tenure as parliamentarian, Boganda spoke out on the need for African emancipation. When he felt his voices were not heard in Paris, Boganda returned to Ubangi-Shari and formed the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa (Mouvement pour l'évolution sociale de l'Afrique noire, MESAN) in 1949. He broke with the MRP in disappointment and focused his political works at Ubangi-Shari. As the leader of MESAN, Boganda combined anti-colonial rhetoric with religious mysticism, making him almost a messianic-like figure among the locals.

On other hand, although Félix-Tchicaya was on the left of the French political spectrum, he, unlike Boganda, never strongly questioned French colonial rule. By 1956, he was soon eclipsed by Jacques Opangault to the left and Fulbert Youlou to the right in the French Congo. More radical Opangault led the local branch of Pan-African African Socialist Movement (Mouvement socialiste africain, MSA), while Youlou, a former priest like Boganda, founded Lari-dominated Democratic Union for the Defense of African Interests (Union démocratique de défense des intérêts africains, UDDIA). Youlou, like Boganda, carried a similar mythical quality to his leadership on the Lari people in the French Congo.

Self-government (1956–1960)

Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), the Pan-African Senegalese activist and the first President of the West African Federation.

In June 1956, the French National Assembly passed the Loi-cadre Defferre, a legislation which conceded a measure of internal autonomy to French colonies. Boganda and his Western African counterpart, Léopold Sédar Senghor, however, similarly worried that the law may divided the federal nature of African colonies into smaller political entities and possibly defeated the prospect of a united, self-governing French-speaking Black Africa. On February 4, 1957, in accordance with the law, France formally decreed the semi-autonomous status of each of the four Central African colonies.

In June 1957, Boganda was elected president of the Grand Council of French Equatorial Africa, the first African to achieve that. This honorary position allowed Boganda to acquire a certain audience at the regional level by criticizing the French colonial administration. He campaigned for the Pan-African stance and stood as a defender of the Equatorial African unity, envisioning for a larger "United States of Latin Africa" that unites the AEF with the Belgian Congo, Cameroon, Ruanda-Urundi and Portuguese Angola. To expand his influence outside of Ubangi-Shari, Boganda reached out to Opangault in the French Congo. Despite stood on a different political spectrum, Opangault shared a similar sentiment with Boganda, creating a regional coalition between the MESAN and the MSA.

The stamp issued to commemorate the founding of the Central African Republic, 1959.

However, by December 1958, Fulbert Youlou had assumed power in the Middle Congo from Opangault. Youlou had envisioned for separately independent French Congo, while Boganda saw Youlou's political vision as an obstruction to the unity of French Equatorial Africa. Disheartened with this development, Boganda resigned himself to proclaiming only Ubangi-Shari as the Central African Republic on December 1, 1958; five days later, the CAR's first government was established with Boganda as prime minister. Boganda and the CAR government drafted the constitution of newly-founded country, modeled after the French constitutional system, with a unicameral parliament with a five-year term and a prime minister for the same period. The draft was approved by the Territorial Assembly on February 16, 1959.

Boganda then focused his energies to the internal development of the CAR by creating extensive administrative reforms, including the establishment of rural and urban municipalities, the creation of district councils with broad authority, and the institution of mutual development societies. He also tirelessly campaigned for the MESAN list for the upcoming April 1959 election, but during the return from a campaign trip at Berbérati to Bangui, his plane crashed on March 29. All four crew and four passengers, except Boganda, were found dead the following day. Boganda miraculously survived despite heavy injuries and was hospitalized at Brazzaville to recover.

Jacques Opangault (1907–1978), the political ally of Boganda in the Congo.

During his stay at Brazzaville, Boganda was secretly visited by Opangault. Opangault proposed a political alliance between the MESAN-MSA in exchange to the Congolese support to the Central African Republic, to which Boganda accepted. In return, Boganda dispatched the MESAN organizers to help the MSA-PPC list to campaign for the upcoming Congolese election in June. Boganda returned to Bangui and resumed his political activity on April 1, 1959, but was hampered by the injuries he got during the crash for the rest of his life. True to his words, Boganda appointed two MSA members to the CAR cabinet portfolio and dispatched the MESAN agents to help Opangault defeating Youlou. Despite heavy intervention of Youlou's government, the MSA-PPC won the June election, returning Opangault as premier of the Middle Congo.

Independence and political consolidation (1960–1965)

Avenue Foch in Brazzaville in 1960

By May 1960, the heads of government of three out of four French Equatorial African colonies had opted to merge the Middle Congo and Chad into the Central African Republic. The federal government reserved for itself powers on foreign policy, common defense, post and telecommunications, the issuance of money as well as the coordination of the economy, while respective constituent states preserved their autonomous governance. Only Gabon, the richest of Equatorial colonies, had chosen to achieve independence on its own for reasons of safeguarding its own interests. On August 19, 1960, the Central African Republic declared its independence within the French Community. Boganda became its first President, while Opangault served as the Mayor of Pointe-Noire.

In the aftermath of independence, President Boganda faced significant challenges in building a new nation from the ashes of colonialism. While Boganda remained to advocate closer French-Central African relations, he had suspected the plane crash in 1959 was arranged by the French business elite in Bangui. Boganda distanced himself from the white settlers in the country and hired former French colonial employees into service instead as "foreign experts." He nationalized key industries and establish state-owned enterprises, a move that hailed positively by the native Africans but was resisted by the white business elite. As a result, Boganda was forced to tread carefully in his economic policies, balancing the need for growth and development with the demands of foreign powers. In reality, France provided financial aid and technical assistance to help build the new nation, and French companies retained significant control over the country's natural resources throughout the 1960s.

Fulbert Youlou (1917–1972), the main opposition leader against Boganda's government.

Boganda's reforms were criticized as slow and conservative. Oppositions from both right and left grew against Boganda's government. On the right, Youlou and his Lari-dominated UDDIA opposed "pseudo-socialism" of Boganda's policies, accusing him of being a covert communist, while on other hand on the left, the trade unionists of CGAT criticized Boganda as a "puppet of the French settlers" and an "agent of colonialism." Nevertheless, Boganda's personal myth which was greatly increased by his miraculous survival in 1959 to the point he was viewed as a "demi-god" as well as his astute political sense kept majority of the Central Africans to support his political programs.

In May 1964, the followers of Youlou clashed with the government forces and supporters in Brazzaville following a demonstration against Boganda. These clashes rapidly consumed the whole of Brazzaville and transformed into a bloody battle between rival bands of pro-Youlou Lari and Boganda-supporting Mbochi. The newly-created Central African Armed Forces quickly subdued the riots, re-establishing order in the capital. Martial law was imposed on Brazzaville and surrounding regions until 1965. As the political opposition to Boganda grew stronger, he became more reliant on the military to maintain stability in the country. Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Boganda's nephew, rapidly rose through the ranks of the new national army, cementing Boganda's control on the military.

Economic development (1965–1970)

Alphonse Massamba-Débat (1921–1995), the architect of Central African economic development.

After the 1964 Brazzaville riot, Boganda attempted to calm the opposition against his government. Boganda recruited Alphonse Massamba-Débat into his government for economic portfolio in 1965, tasked to develop the Central African industries and improve the standard of living. Massamba-Débat's appointment represented a clear break from the white commercial interests as well as the rise of native technocrats into the government. Massamba-Débat-led reforms, however, were paid off. Some large production units with large workforces were built. Health centers were created as well as school groups (colleges and elementary school). The CAR's school enrollment rate became the highest in Black Africa. It was under this atmosphere Boganda eliminated other opposition groups.

By 1965, the main pillars of Boganda's government were the MESAN, the army and the technocrats, but these three institutions had not sitting very well with each other. It was Boganda's charismatic leadership that united these conflicting elements into a functioning political machine. Boganda also became increasingly authoritarian, centralizing more power to the federal government in Brazzaville. In 1967, the martial law was imposed in Chad as the state premier, François Tombalbaye, was accused of plotting the overthrow of Boganda's government with Youlou, who had been in exile in France since the 1964 riot. He also arrested thousands of opposition political activists during the last years of the 1960s. Nevertheless, Boganda remained popular among the populace. A cult of personality developed steadily around him; songs were sung in his praise and his photograph was displayed in stores, hotels and government buildings across the country.

The Sounda Hydroelectric Station at Mvouti.

There was also sentiment among the government elite for a foreign policy independent from France. French commercial interests were seen as conspiring with opposition politicians such as Youlou and Tombalbaye against Boganda's government. Massamba-Débat and David Dacko, the Mayor of Bangui and Boganda's cousin, were the main proponents to establish closer relations with Japan. They wanted the Japanese loan to fund the construction of a hydroelectric plant on the Kouilou-Niari River and to pay salaries of the government employees. After years of research and surveying, the construction of the Sounda Dam started on November 26, 1965. In January 1966, Dacko led an economic mission, personally sent by Boganda, to Tokyo to secure a low-interest loan of US$150 million from the Japanese government, in exchange for major gold and diamond concessions.

In 1967, Dacko was dispatched again to Tokyo and Moscow to negotiate for funding of the construction of a railway from Bangui to Brazzaville to ease the transportation of raw commodities to Pointe-Noire. A Japanese-Soviet-Central African consortium, the Société de Transport de Bangui (SOTBA), was founded to oversee the construction. The SOTBA railway was completed in 1969, while the hydroelectric plant was fully operated by December 24, 1970, generating 800 megawatts electricity and providing powers needed for industrialization. Output from the plant is also sold to neighboring Congo and Portuguese Angola, generating additional profits for the government. Smaller hydroelectric and thermal plants were also built with Japanese investments across the country between 1966 and 1979. By 1975, Japan became the largest foreign investor in the CAR, surpassing France and the United States.

Further readings