General Francois Bozize, who ousted former president Ange-Felix Patasse in a lightning coup on March 15 and has since declared himself president of CAR, decreed late Monday that Kolingba was to be reinstated as a general with the full rights and prerogatives attached to the rank.

Kolingba was stripped of his rank of army general and demoted to a rank and file soldier in the CAR army after a failed bid to oust Patasse in May 2001.

Some 20 people, including Kolingba, who fled into exile in Uganda after being accused of masterminding the coup, were sentenced to death last year for their part in the attempt to oust Patasse on May 28, 2001 -- one of around half a dozen coup bids during his 10-year rule.

Kolingba came to power in a bloodless coup that deposed David Dacko in 1981. He ruled the country, rich in natural wealth but impoverished by years of corruption and mismanagement, until 1993, when Patasse beat him in elections.

Patasse was on a trip abroad when rebels backing Bozize seized the capital Bangui on March 15.

A month after he seized power, Bozize announced an amnesty for all those sentenced in connection with the May 2001 coup bid.

Kolingba has repeatedly said he wants to return to CAR and early this month he began talks on the issue which took him to Chad, Gabon and Republic of Congo.

Bozize's regime has said it is not opposed to Kolingba returning, but stressed that it wants first to define the exact conditions surrounding any such return and to know what his political intentions are.

Also Monday, Bozize reinstated Andre Koyangbo Modeba as a colonel in the gendarmerie -- a police force administered by the defense department -- and named Ernest Latakpi director general of CAR's police. Both men are close to Kolingba.

Charles Massi, a former lawmaker under Patasse who was among the May 2001 coup plotters sentenced to death, returned to Bangui days after Bozize's coup on March 15.

Massi has since been named to a coalition government set up by Bozize under veteran opposition leader Abel Goumba, one of the first steps CAR's new leader took towards reconciling his country and restoring stability after years of mutinies, coups and progressive economic disintegration.

WAR.WIRE