In the shadow of six surrounding neighbors struggling with their own problems is the Central African Republic, a landlocked country that receives relatively little attention but is plagued by instability and conflict that have turned the lives of its citizens upside down for years. put.
The Central African Republic is once again facing an acute period of instability from an ongoing civil war that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Despite the intervention of UN peacekeepers, Russian military advisers and Rwandan forces, peace is still elusive.
Nearly a third of all Central Africans have been driven from their homes in recent years – including 200,000 who have only fled since December after a difficult election.
Here are basic questions and answers about the history of the country and what causes its dysfunction.
Where is the Central African Republic?
About the size of Texas, with a population of about 5 million, it is actually in the center of the African continent, hemmed in clockwise by Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. All guest refugees from the Central African Republic who have fled the chaos in their homeland.
Its colonial name, Ubangi-Shari, stood for the land that stretches across the Ubangi and Shari river basins. Its name changed during the 1950s decolonization period of French equatorial Africa.
What is causing the fighting in the country now?
The latest turbulence can be traced back to the elections on December 27, which attempted to disrupt rebel groups. Incumbent President Faustin-Archange Touadéra won a second term when rebels launched attacks and occupied major cities. Few people outside the capital Bangui were able to vote safely because of rebel violence, and the rebels even reached Bangui. The president’s opponents have accused him of fraud.
The rebels are an unlikely marriage of the remains of two wider and previously hostile armed groups: the Seleka, meaning alliance and a coalition of predominantly Muslim fighters from the north, along with some Chadians and Sudanese; and mostly Christian vigilante militias calling themselves anti-balaka, which sometimes translates as anti-machete. Both groups have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians, including rape and mass murder.
Why have rebel groups that were recently enemies united?
The exact reasons are unclear. But they have united in an alliance called the Coalition of Patriots for Change. And they would have the support of a former president, François Bozizé. He seized power in a 2003 coup and was deposed by the Seleka in 2013. Disqualified from running in the December elections, he is believed to be in hiding and faces UN sanctions for his support of anti-Balaka groups.
It is not clear who represents the coalition, but they present themselves as a legitimate political force. Abakar Sabone, a minor warlord who is sort of a coalition spokesman, said in a telephone interview: “We would have seized power if we wanted to, but we are giving Touadéra a second chance to start an inclusive discussion.
“But if he tries to be stubborn,” he continued, “we’ll go to the capital and get him out.”
What is daily life like now?
Bangui is under siege. Rebels block access routes and restrict deliveries. A bag of flour in February tripled in price from the previous month.
Alhadj Sali Abdou, 56, who lost the grocery store he owned when war broke out in 2013, now earns about $ 3 a day by reselling baguettes outside his home. He said he had never seen things as bad as they are now.
“I’m not saying I’m totally desperate,” he said, adding that if peace could be restored he could get back on his feet.
With so many displaced people, families camp in churches. Many have no food, spare clothes, bedding or cooking utensils. Humanitarian groups working in the country say they have also faced rebel attacks, and some have stopped operating there.
Motorcycles, the preferred vehicles of most of the capital’s residents, have been banned because the rebels use them, often stranding people.
How long has the Central African Republic been unstable?
Outsiders have long exploited the area that is now the Central African Republic. When sultans reigned, it was plagued by slave traders. Then French colonialists rented it out to companies that forced the locals to work for them. About half of the population died in the fifty years after the French explorers first arrived.
Independence leader Barthélemy Boganda died in a mysterious plane crash in 1959, a year before he gained full independence. And since then, the country has rarely known peace, ravaged by political rivalry. In 1965, with French support, the president, David Dacko, was overthrown by a military commander. Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who later proclaimed himself emperor, reigned for 14 years and was charged with atrocities, including the killing of school children for not wearing a uniform with his image. Bokassa was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. He died in 1996.
After the Bokassa era, the country suffered a succession of coups d’état, mutinies and more French military intervention. The United Nations has deployed a peacekeeping force there since 2014 to help protect civilians from antagonists.
Is the instability related to the country’s diamonds and gold?
It could be. The country’s great agricultural and pastoral potential is underdeveloped and its population is among the poorest in the world. Almost three-quarters live below the international poverty line of $ 1.90 a day. The government does not control about two thirds of the country, including some major mining areas.
Rebel groups trade in diamonds and gold and collect taxes from miners and other people in the smuggling chains. So they have a financial interest in keeping things as they are, and to prevent government from gaining more control.
What is the government doing about the rebel alliance?
President Touadéra has enlisted the help of Russia to train soldiers from the Central African Republic, and a Russian is the president’s security adviser. Some see this as part of a pattern of increasing Russian military influence across Africa.
In December, in the face of a rebel offensive, Mr Touadéra’s government asked Russia for more help. Three hundred Russian reinforcements were sent – Russia said they were military advisers. In addition to the many Rwandan peacekeepers in the country with the United Nations, Rwandan soldiers were also sent to help.
The 13,500 UN peacekeepers are believed to protect civilians and prevent armed groups from committing violence against the population. They helped secure the election, but are unable to disarm the rebels and are often attacked by rebels. Some have also been charged with sexual abuse.
It remains unclear how long the costly peacekeeping mission will remain in the country.
Is there any hope?
The government forces, with their foreign allies, have begun to push back the rebels, who agreed to a ceasefire in early February and withdrew voluntarily from the western town of Bouar, which they had captured a month earlier.
The upcoming trial of two anti-Balaka leaders at the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the first prosecution of crimes committed in the Central African Republic conflict.
The defendants, Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yékatom, are the most senior anti-Balaka leaders ever to be tried. This could begin to fill what Human Rights Watch has called a “void of justice” that has created a climate of impunity in the country. Mahamat Said, a Seleka leader, was handed over to the ICC in January.
Ruth Maclean reported from Dakar, Senegal. Moussa Abdoulaye contributed from Bangui, Central African Republic, and Mady Camara from Dakar.