Timothée Malendoma (1935 – 12 December 2010) was a Central African politician who served as the 12th

Prime Minister of the Central African Republic This article lists the heads of government of the Central African Republic. There have been twenty-five heads of government of the Central African Republic and the Central African Empire. The office of Prime Minister, the head of government, wa ...

from 4 December 1992 to 26 February 1993. He was the President of the

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (Czech: ''Občanské fórum'', OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( Slovak: ...

party.

Early life

Timothée Malendoma was born in Dekoua (now in the Central African Republic) in 1935, joining the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

in 1953. After fighting for France in the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...

, he was trained as a military administrator in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

Political career

He was chosen by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Jean-Bédel Bokassa Jean-Bédel Bokassa (; 22 February 1921 – 3 November 1996), also known as Bokassa I, was a Central African political and military leader who served as the second president of the Central African Republic (CAR) and as the emperor of its s ...

to become Minister of the National Economy in January 1966, and spent his time attempting to shut down diamond smuggling. However, the following year the influence of the smugglers proved too great and he was removed from his post. He returned to politics on 27 September 1979 when he was named Minister of State in the government of President

David Dacko David Dacko (; 1927 – 21 November 2003) was a Central African politician who served as the first president of the Central African Republic from 14 August 1960 to 1 January 1966, and 3rd President from 21 September 1979 to 1 September 1981. Af ...

. He later formed his own political party in 1990. Under Malendoma's leadership, the

party participated in the "grand national debate" initiated by President

André Kolingba André-Dieudonné Kolingba (12 August 1936 – 7 February 2010) was a Central African politician, who was the fourth President of the Central African Republic (CAR), from 1 September 1981 until 1 October 1993. He took power from President David ...

in 1992, although such participation was opposed by the Consultative Group of Democratic Forces, an opposition coalition of which the Civic Forum was a member, which resulting in a suspension of the party by the coalition. On 4 December 1992, Malendoma was appointed as

by Kolingba to succeed Edouard Frank; however, in February 1993, Kolingba accused Malendoma of "blocking the democratic process" and dismissed him. Malendoma was the candidate of the Civic Forum in the August 1993 presidential election, receiving 2.03% of the vote and taking sixth place. Subsequently Malendoma was a deputy in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

and the Civic Forum was an opposition party under President

Ange-Félix Patassé Ange-Félix Patassé (January 25, 1937 – April 5, 2011) was a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 1993 until 2003, when he was deposed by the rebel leader François Bozizé in the 2003 coup d'ét ...

. As President of the Church of Christ – the King and the Faculty of Evangelical Theology of Bangui, he sought to attend a meeting of Protestant churches in

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

but was barred from leaving the Central African Republic by the government on 12 October 1999. After

François Bozizé François Bozizé Yangouvonda (born 14 October 1946) is a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 2003 to 2013. Bozizé rose to become a high-ranking army officer in the 1970s, under the rule of Jean-B� ...

seized power in 2003, Malendoma remained in opposition. In March 2004 he objected to the presence of ousted

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an President

Jean-Bertrand Aristide Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a Haitian former Salesian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in ...

in the Central African Republic, arguing that Aristide was "a dictator"—"we have had our fair share and we don't need anymore"—and that the country should not be "a dumping ground". He also said that in the Central African Republic "democracy is a luxury and opposition is a foreign concept". In the 2005 parliamentary election, he ran for a seat in the National Assembly as a candidate of the Civic Forum from Mala constituency in Kémo Prefecture, but was defeated in the second round of voting by Fred Jacob Karouna.

Death

Malendoma was admitted to Bangui General Hospital in late November 2010 suffering from a

hypertensive emergency A hypertensive emergency is very high blood pressure with potentially life-threatening symptoms and signs of acute damage to one or more organ systems (especially brain, eyes, heart, aorta, or kidneys). It is different from a hypertensive urgency ...

, and died on 12 December at the age of 75. Following his death, the Civic Forum did not participate in the subsequent election.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malendoma, Timothee 1935 births 2010 deaths Members of the National Assembly (Central African Republic) Prime Ministers of the Central African Republic