In December 2012, the CAR was plunged into an uprising by rebel forces who condemned the Bozizé government for not honoring peace agreements after the Central African Republic Bush War in 2007.

On 24 March 2013, Bozizé fled to Cameroon via the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the rebel forces attacked Bangui and took control of the presidential palace.

[8][9] Bozizé was born in the present-day nation of Gabon, a member of the Gbaya people, and attended a military officers' training college in the Central African province of Bouar.

[11][12] With General Josyhat Mayomokala, Bozizé ordered military personnel to attack young demonstrators who were asking for their parents' arrears.

Under pressure to democratize the government during the 1980s, Kolingba had formed a political party and held a referendum, in which he was elected to a six-year term in office as president.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, internal and external pressures eventually forced Kolingba to adopt the beginnings of a democratic approach.

[citation needed] On 28 May 2001, a coup was attempted against Patassé[24] and defeated with the help of Libyan troops and Congolese rebels of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo.

From 25 to 31 October, his forces unsuccessfully attacked the capital, Bangui; soldiers of the Congolese MLC, which again came to Patassé's aid, were accused of looting and rape.

Patassé's ruling party accused Chadian president Idriss Déby of destabilizing the Central African Republic by supporting Bozizé with men and equipment.

[36] On 4 January 2005, Bozizé announced that three initially excluded candidates would also be allowed to run, although former president Patassé was not included in either group.

At the end of the transitional period, he retained the defense portfolio when he appointed a new government under Doté in June 2005,[43] and he also kept it in a September 2006 cabinet reshuffle.

Further, members of Kolingba's Yakoma tribe in the south posed a potential threat to Bozizé's government because of their widespread boycott of the second round of the legislative elections.

[48] Facing a general strike over wage arrears for civil servants in January 2008,[49] Bozizé appointed a new government headed by Faustin-Archange Touadéra, an academic figure who was politically unknown.

In December 2010, Bozizé issued a decree which officially rehabilitated Bokassa, stating the former military dictator had "given a great deal for humanity".

[54] Shortly after Bozizé seized power, the Central African Republic Bush War began with the rebellion by the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), led by Michel Djotodia.

[56] The UFDR rebel forces consisted of five allies, the Groupe d'action patriotique pour la liberation[57] de Centrafrique (GAPLC), the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the People's Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), the Movement of Central African Liberators for Justice[58] (MLCJ), and the Front démocratique Centrafricain (FDC).

[59] On 17 April 2004, security forces reportedly killed eight "Liberators," Chadian combatants who had helped the President seize power in 2003.

In April 2004, the Government deployed 200 soldiers to fight banditry in the northern and northwest provinces, including Kemo and Ouham-Pende.

[60]: 84 Between 2006 and 2007 President Francois Bozize was holding a national dialogue with rebel groups and political foes to try to end the fighting.

[74][75] According to anthropologist Sandra Fancello, Bozizé's presidency was marked by a "warrior rhetoric" that could be traced to the influence of the Celestial Church.

[78] On 13 January, Bozizé signed a decree that removed Prime Minister Touadéra from power, as part of the agreement with the rebel coalition.

[82] On 24 March, rebel forces heavily attacked Bangui and took control of major structures, including the presidential palace.

Bozizé's family fled across the river to the Democratic Republic of the Congo[83] and then to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, where he was granted temporary refuge.

[86] While in exile, Bozizé fled to Cameroon via the Democratic Republic of the Congo after the rebel forces attacked Bangui and took control of the presidential palace.

[90][91] The KNK said that Bozizé's exclusion was "the result of internal and external pressure",[92] with many of his supporters alleging that the French government was involved in the decision.

However, on 3 December 2020 the Constitutional Court of CAR ruled that Bozizé did not satisfy the "good morality" requirement for candidates because of an international warrant and United Nations sanctions against him for alleged assassinations, torture and other crimes.

[94] On 22 September 2023, Bozizé, who fled to Chad before moving to Guinea-Bissau, was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment with hard labor by the Bangui Court of Appeal for unspecified crimes.

[95] On 30 April 2024, the Special Criminal Court in Bangui issued an international arrest warrant against him on charges of human rights abuses committed during his presidency, including in Bossembélé, which was dubbed as his "personal prison".