[4][5]: 10–11  After a long trial, the Central African criminal court handed a death sentence to Kolingba (then in exile in Uganda) and 21 other coup plotters in October 2002;[6] the charges against Bozizé had already been dropped in late 2001, although he was dismissed as army chief.

[13] On Thursday, 13 March 2003, President Ange-Félix Patassé left Bangui to attend a regional Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN-SAD) summit in Niamey, Niger.

He was accompanied by a delegation of approximately twenty people, including First Lady Angèle Patassé, Foreign Minister Martial Beti Marace, and presidential advisor Prosper Ndouba, who had recently been freed from rebel captivity just two months before.

[3] Before his departure, the president's Chief of Staff, Colonel Antoine Gambi, assured Patassé that François Bozizé's militias were contained to the north of the country and were not a threat to Bangui during the trip.

On Friday, 14 March 2003, the rebels captured the towns of Bossembélé and Bouali, where President Patassé owned a small farm, en route to Bangui.

While no one on board the presidential plane was aware of the ongoing coup at the time, the first lady's lengthy Niamey shopping trip "probably saved the couple's life," according to journalist François Soudan in Jeune Afrique.

The deposed presidential delegation was taken to the Yaoundé Hilton Hotel, where Angèle and Ange-Félix Patassé learned that their two young children, Salomon and Providence, had been taken to safety at the French embassy in Bangui.

Gabonese President Omar Bongo backpaddled from his initial support for French intervention in the Central African Republic, which Patassé calls "a betrayal.

"[3] On Tuesday, March 18, 2003, two Cameroonian officials, Minister of State for Territorial Administration Hamidou Marafa Yaya and Secretary General of the Presidency Jean-Marie Atangana Mebarao met with Patassé and told him to leave Cameroon within 48 hours.

[1][2] Shortly after the coup, Patassé openly accused Déby, whom he had met with in Niamey while it was taking place, of supporting Bozizé, as Chadian forces and other groups were reportedly looting parts of Bangui.

[3] Patassé said that Chad has an economic interest in gaining control of Central African oil fields and that Déby hoped to annex the northern CAR for this purpose.