David Dacko

David Dacko ( born March 24, 1930 in Bouchia, then French Equatorial Africa, now Central African Republic, † 20 November 2003 in Yaoundé, Cameroon) was the first President of the Central African Republic.

Dacko was trained in Brazzaville and subsequently worked as a teacher before he went into politics. In the period before independence from France on August 13, 1960, he worked closely with his uncle Barthelemy Boganda, who acted as head of government in the independence period. After his death in 1959, he followed him for six years in office, and was thus in 1960 the first President of the country. At the same time he held the presidency of the ruling party, the Mouvement pour l' évolution sociale de l' Afrique noire ( MESAN ). On January 1, 1966 Dacko was overthrown in a coup by his cousin Jean- Bédel Bokassa. Then, when the new regime continued for several years under house arrest. Nevertheless, he was rehabilitated and in the last years of the reign of Bokassa even its consultants.

On 20-21. September 1979 Dacko took advantage of the absence of Bokassa and took over with French help, again the power (Operation Barracuda ). In March 1981, he was re-elected with 50.23 % of votes. After this success, he took the opportunity and let dissolve two opposition parties and prohibit. However, these measures did not prevent his fall on September 20, 1981 by André Kolingba.

A little later Dacko founded a new party, the Movement for Democracy and Development ( MDD), which was represented in the 1990s and in the parliament.

1992 and 1999 took Dacko two unsuccessful presidential candidacies. He eventually died at the age of 73 years in Yaoundé, where he stayed for medical treatment.