On 20 September 1979, Dacko, with French support, led a bloodless coup that overthrew Bokassa while he was out of the country.

The country ’ s first president, David Dacko was overthrown by his army chief-of-staff, Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1966.

Following Bokassa, David Dacko was restored in 1981, only to be overthrown once again by his new army chief of staff, General André Kolingba after only a few months in power.

This action was also controversial, particularly since Dacko was Bokassa ’ s cousin and had appointed Bokassa as head of the military, and unrest continued in the Central African Republic, leading to Dacko being overthrown in another coup in 1981.

As a cousin of the CAR President David Dacko and nephew of Dacko's predecessor Barthélémy Boganda, Bokassa was given the task of creating the new country's military.

Due to his relation to Dacko and experience abroad in the French military, Bokassa was able to quickly rise through the ranks of the army, becoming the Central African army's first colonel on 1 December 1964.

However, Dacko was nowhere to be found.

Bokassa panicked, believing the president had been warned of the coup in advance, and immediately ordered his soldiers to search for Dacko in the countryside until he was found.

Dacko was arrested by soldiers patrolling Pétévo Junction, on the western border of the capital.

President Dacko was taken to Ngaragba Prison in east Bangui at around 02: 00 WAT ( 01: 00 UTC ).

David Dacko remained president until he was overthrown on 1 September 1981 by André Kolingba.

Former president Dacko was called to the witness stand to testify that he had seen photographs of butchered bodies hanging in the dark cold-storage rooms of Bokassa's palace immediately after the 1979 coup.

When the defence put up a reasonable doubt during the cross-examination of Dacko that he could not be positively sure if the photographs he had seen of dead bodies were used for consumption, Bokassa's former security chief of the palace was called to testify that he had cooked human flesh stored in the walk-in freezers and served it to Bokassa on an occasional basis.

The massive press coverage which followed the deaths of the students opened the way for a successful coup which saw French troops ( in Opération Barracuda ) restore former president David Dacko to power while Bokassa was away in Libya on 20 September 1979.

David Dacko remained president until he was overthrown on 1 September 1981 by André Kolingba.

After Bokassa was ousted by David Dacko in 1979, Bozizé was appointed Minister of Defense.

David Dacko ( March 24, 1930 – November 20, 2003 ) was the first President of the Central African Republic ( CAR ), from August 14, 1960 to January 1, 1966, and the third president of the CAR from September 21, 1979 to September 1, 1981.

Dacko was thus an important political figure in CAR politics for a period of over half a century.

Dacko was born in the village of Bouchia, near Mbaiki in the Lobaye region, which was then a part of the French Equatorial African territory of Moyen Congo ( Middle Congo ).

When the first Council of Government of Ubangi-Shari was established that same year, Boganda named Dacko Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Water and Forests, in which position he served from May 14, 1957 until August 23, 1958.

Dacko, who belonged to the same Ngbaka ethnic group as Bokassa, was imprisoned, placed under house arrest in Lobaye, but then was released on July 16, 1969 and eventually named personal counselor of President Bokassa on September 17, 1976.

A major street is named after him, Avenue President David Dacko.

On 13 August 1960 the Central African Republic became an independent country and David Dacko became its first President.

He became an agricultural engineer and agricultural inspector in the Ministry of Agriculture in July 1963, under President David Dacko.

When the Territorial Assembly became the Legislative Constitutive Assembly on December 1, 1958, Dacko and his fellow Territorial Councilors became Deputies.

After the independence was achieved on August 13, 1960, Dacko became Provisional President of the Republic ( August 14, 1960 – December 12, 1960 ), and then, with the active support of France against his rival Abel Goumba, the first president of the CAR ( December 12, 1960 – December 31, 1965 ).

He was defeated in a political power struggle by David Dacko in 1959 and then became a minor opposition party leader.

Goumba became more and more critical of the French backing of Dacko.

In order to cultivate alternative sources of support and display his independence in foreign policy, Dacko cultivated closer relations with the People's Republic of China, for example.

During 1959, Dacko succeeded Boganda as the main leader of the country when Boganda died in a plane crash.

During the first and second presidential terms of Ange-Félix Patassé ( 1993 – 1999 and 1999 – 2003 ), Dacko continued to participate actively in politics as a leader of the opposition.

However, Dacko forbade his return, and the infuriated Bokassa spent the next few months trying to obtain supporters from the French and Central African armed forces, who he hoped would force Dacko to reconsider his decision.

Dacko did not conceal his plans ; he hinted at his intentions to elders of the Bobangui village, who in turn informed Bokassa of the plot.

Dacko was regarded by many Central Africans as a puppet of the French and his right to rule was challenged, in particular, by Bokassa's former prime minister, Ange-Félix Patassé who, in addition to belonging to the largest ethnic group in the country, the Gbaya, had residential and kinship ties to other ethnic groups and was the most popular politician in the country.

On September 1, 1981, Dacko was overthrown in a bloodless coup carried out by army chief of staff General André Kolingba, who may have had the support of local French security officers who are suspected of having acted without authorization by France's new Socialist government led by President Mitterrand.

David Dacko was survived by his wife Brigitte, who bore seven sons and four daughters, including Bruno Dacko and Ruffin Molomadon.

In the 1981 presidential election, which was won by Dacko ( who was nevertheless ousted only a few months later ), Goumba took less than 2 % of the vote, but in the 1993 presidential election he achieved his best result, coming in second place but being defeated by Ange-Felix Patassé in a run-off, in which Goumba took about 46 % of the vote.

MEDAC was founded in 1960 by Goumba and Pierre Maleombho, the former president of the National Assembly who was ousted by Dacko, after they left the MESAN party.

* David Dacko, who had recently been re-elected, quit as President of the Central African Republic, turned over control to army commander General Andre Kolingba.

Under pressure from political radicals in the Mouvement pour l ' évolution sociale de l ' Afrique noire ( Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa or MESAN ) and in an attempt to cultivate alternative sources of support and display his ability to make foreign policy without the help of the French government, Dacko established diplomatic relations with Mao Zedong's People's Republic of China ( PRC ) in September 1964.

Upon seizing power from David Dacko in 1981, the current President André Kolingba had declared amnesty for all misdemeanours committed during the tenure of his predecessors.

Even after being removed from power twice by coups d ' état, Dacko continued to be a very active politician and presidential candidate with a loyal group of supporters.

Dacko then served as Minister of the Interior and Administrative Affairs from August 23 to December 8, 1958.

By 1965, however, Dacko had lost the support of most Central Africans and may have been planning to resign from the presidency when he was overthrown.

When Bokassa's rule came under increasing criticism during the late 1970s, Dacko managed to leave for Paris where the French convinced him to cooperate in a coup to remove Bokassa from power and restore him to the presidency.

He took power from President David Dacko in a bloodless coup d ' état in 1981 and lost power to Ange-Félix Patassé in a democratic election held in 1993.

The Lost Patrol provided the music soundtrack to Ryan Dacko ’ s documentary feature film Plan 9 from Syracuse.

David Dacko, the first and third president of the Central African Republic from 1960-1965, and 1979-1981 is from Lobaye.