Abel Goumba

Abel Nguéndé Goumba (born September 18, 1926 in Grimari, † May 11, 2009 in Bangui ) was a politician of the Central African Republic .

Political career

Goumba came from the prefecture of Ouaka in what was then the French colony of Ubangi-Shari . After his school days, some of which he spent in Dakar , he served in the French army from 1949 to 1950.

In the governing council of the territory he became vice president in 1957 and president in 1958. In 1959, after the death of Barthélemy Boganda, he was prime minister for a short time, but in the following elections he was defeated by David Dacko . At first he was a member of Dacko's government.

Opposition politician

After the country gained independence under the name of Central African Republic on August 13, 1960, his party Mouvement d'Evolution Démocratique d'Afrique Centrale (MEDAC) was banned and Goumba was under house arrest. In 1964 he was sentenced to six months in prison. In September of that year he went into exile in France . During this time he continued his medical training in Bordeaux , Rennes and Paris . He also founded new parties that campaigned against the dictators at the time, Jean-Bédel Bokassa and Ange-Félix Patassé .

In the early 1980s he returned to his homeland, worked for the World Health Organization , taught medicine at the Université de Bangui and was temporarily rector of the University of Bangui in 1982 . He ran for the presidency five times without exceeding 10% of the vote. He was arrested several times for his political activities, dismissed from his academic offices and reinstated. With his party Front Patriotique pour le Progrès (FPP) he was at times one of the leading opposition activists. In 2002 he supported François Bozizé in his attempt to overthrow President Patassé.

Vice President

In 2003, after Patassé's overthrow, Professor Goumba became prime minister again after more than 40 years as an opposition politician and promised to fight corruption in the country. On December 12, 2003 he became Vice President under François Bozizé. In the presidential elections on March 13, 2005, he reached seventh place with 2.5% of the vote. President Bozizé dismissed him from office without refilling it. According to Bozizé, this happened because the position will no longer exist with the new constitution, while Goumba angrily reported hearing of his dismissal on the radio. Immediately before his release, Goumba spoke of irregularities in the elections.

family

Goumba was married and had 15 children.

Individual evidence

1. ^ “IRIN special report on elections 19990902” , University of Pennsylvania, African Studies Center, accessed May 12, 2009

Web links

• Official CV for the 2005 presidential elections (French)
• IRIN NEWS : CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Bozize sacks his deputy (on the release of Goumba, March 16, 2005) (English)