Central African Republic: the two-minute version
Right in the centre of Africa, a war of revenge and religion is escalating. You might be familiar the Central African Republic (CAR), a landlocked country bordered by Chad, Sudan and Congo, or there’s a chance, like many, you’ve never heard of it.
For the past year the CAR has been in chaos, with hundreds brutally killed and thousands displaced.
As the bloodshed continues, we tasked Amie Hamling with shedding light on what is happening in the CAR and why, and what needs to happen next.
A makeshift camp near Bangui’s airport where some 100,000 people who had fled their homes are crammed into a vast tent city near the bases of foreign soldiers, 18 March 2014 © AFP PHOTO PACOME
Firstly, where is CAR exactly? Is it really smack bang in the centre of Africa?
That it is. Arguably the most central country in the continent of Africa, CAR is roughly three times the size of Victoria, at over 620,000 square kilometres.
As a result of the ongoing conflict, population figures are blurry, but an estimated 4.4 million live in the country. Almost one million civilians have been internally displaced, with more than half evacuating from the nation’s capital, Bangui.
Before the conflict, was it an okay place to live?
In a nutshell: no. The CAR is one of the world’s poorest nations, ranking a disappointing 179 out of 187 on the Human Development Index — a measurement of a nation’s life expectancy, education and income.
It’s social, political and economic conditions have been weak since independence from French control in 1960. Now, the state is in a downward spiral of turmoil.
Speaking of France, what happened there?
During the ‘Scramble for Africa’ in the late 19th Century, European powers carved up Africa and competed with each other to establish their claims to
territory in the region.
France set up the French Congo — present-day Republic of Congo, Gabon
and the CAR — and divided up the land into ‘administrative regions’.
When colonialism collapsed in the 1960s, the newly independent region of
Ubangi-Shari became the ‘Central African Republic’.
However, the previous arbitrarily-drawn borders led to an absence of national unity, with an individual’s sense of identity coming from their religion or family instead. Today, this means bloody fighting between CAR’s Muslim minority and its Christian majority, which makes up more than 80 per cent of the population.
So, who is fighting who?
Well, this is the difficult part. The conflict began in March last year when Muslim Seleka rebels ousted the Christian President Francois Bozize and installed Michel Djotodia, a leader of the Seleka rebel coalition, as interim President.
During this time, the Seleka attacked civilians across the country, torturing and executing some, indiscriminately shelling communities, raping women and forcefully conscripting children. These atrocities were met with attacks against the Muslim civilians by the Anti-Balaka, a Christian militia. Over the past year, thousands of Muslims have
been brutally murdered in horrific, planned attacks on communities described as ‘ethnic cleansing’.
The pattern of violence in CAR is cyclical. Revenge motivates each force to react to the actions of their enemy. An example of this unrelenting violence is in an incident on 9th September last year. The Anti-Balaka raided a community in the town of Bouca, east of Bossangoa, burning the homes of Muslim civilians and killing at least three people. In retaliation, the Seleka forces mirrored the incident on the same day, murdering an estimated ten Christians.
Djotodia resigned in January 2014 over claims he failed to stop the sectarian violence in the country and was replaced as interim leader by Catherine Samba-Panza, the former Mayor of Bangui.
Despite a formal ceasefire signed by the CAR government and the Seleka rebels in January this year, unrest continues.
In February, a mass attack by the anti-balaka took place in the village of Bouguere, north-west of Bangui, killed more than 40 Muslim civilians. The sole survivor of the attack, an 11-year-old girl, was found crouching in the corner of an abandoned house by Amnesty International researchers.
Anti-Balaka Christian militiamen walk through a forest clearing outside CAR’s capital Bangui, December 2013 © AP Photo / Jerome Delay
Muslim men organised in militias with machetes rough up a Christian man while checking him for weapons in the Miskine neighbourhood of Bangui, December 2013 © AP Photo / Jerome Delay
Protests
Amid reports of horrific violence — including a 6-month-old baby whose throat was cut, a 10-year-old boy shot dead, with his hands cut off and dogs feeding on bodies in the street — over a quarter of the country’s 4.6 million population have fled their homes.
On 28 May, at least 11 people were killed in an attack on a church in Bangui, the next day a Mosque in Bangui’s La Kouanga area was destroyed in alleged retaliation.
In response to the mayhem, thousands of people took to the streets on 30 May, calling for the resignation of the transitional government and the withdrawal of Burundian troops. At least two people were killed and several injured during the protest when security forces fired on the protesters.
Is the international community doing anything?
In December 2013, 1,600 French peacekeepers entered into the fragile nation in an attempt to disarm the religious forces. The militias were unable to be stabilised and fighting continued. This was criticised widely, with international troops being said to have neglected high-conflict areas at times when intervention was most needed.
Global support has dwindled. The European Union made a broken promise to deploy troops worldwide in February to populations in need, however the forces never reached CAR.
What does the future look like?
Growing religious tensions and revenge pursuits have furthered much of the conflict, in addition to the lack of response from external powers. There are two key areas why the conflict is expanding: the failure of peacekeeping troops to provide resources and stability, and the violent targeting of humanitarian aid efforts by Seleka forces.
According to the United Nations, 1.6 million people are in urgent need of food, protection, health care and other life-saving services. However, humanitarian staff are struggling to provide aid, due to persistent insecurity, the absence of the rule of law and attacks on aid missions.
Without appropriate action by the international community and the CAR interim government, the future is bleak.
What needs to happen?
It is an ongoing battle to restore order in a lawless society and the international community has so far failed to hold CAR accountable. Now, with the help of the global leaders, it’s up to interim leader, Samba-Panza, to react promptly to the conflict between the Christian and Muslim militias.
To ensure any kind of peace, the UN Security Council must deploy a strong contingent of peacekeepers before it’s too late. Deploying international troops, with the resources to restore peace and aid the most vulnerable, is a priority.
In the long term, victims on both sides deserve reparations for their suffering and to see the guilty parties brought to justice.
How you can help
When Amnesty learns about a crisis unfolding, like in the CAR, we dispatch our researchers into the field to find out exactly what’s happening. When they report back, an unstoppable chain of life-saving events is set in motion.
Our Crisis Team:
- gets the word out to the media and our supporters in Australia and around the world
- activates thousands of people to put strategic pressure on those in power
- helps supporters organise rallies and protests to shed light on atrocities being committed
- meets with members of parliament to urge them to use their diplomatic powers.
By donating to Amnesty International now, your tax-time gift can help us save lives in the CAR and other crisis hot spots around the world. Watch the video below to find out how we use your donation.
