In the shadow of six close neighbors overwhelmed with their own problems, stands the Central African Republic, a landlocked country that receives relatively little attention, but which has been plagued by instability and conflicts that have affected the lives of its citizens for many years.
The Central African Republic is once again experiencing an acute outbreak of instability in a continuing civil war that has displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Despite the intervention of United Nations peacekeepers, Russian military advisers and Rwandan troops, peace is still elusive.
Nearly a third of all Central Africans have been displaced from their homes in recent years – including 200,000 who have fled since December alone after a troubled election.
Here are basic questions and answers about the country’s history and what is causing its dysfunction.
Where is the Central African Republic?
Approximately the size of Texas, with a population of around 5 million, it is basically in the middle of the African continent, surrounded clockwise by Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Cameroon. All receive refugees from the Central African Republic who have fled the chaos in their homeland.
The colonial name, Ubangi-Shari, meant the land that encompasses the basins of the Ubangi and Shari rivers. The name changed during the decolonization of French equatorial Africa in the 1950s.
What is causing the struggle in the country now?
The most recent turmoil can be attributed to the December 27 elections, which rebel groups tried to disorganize. Current President Faustin-Archange Touadéra won a second term, while rebels organized attacks and occupied large 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 accused him of fraud.
The rebels are an unlikely match for the remnants of two broader and previously antagonistic armed groups: the Seleka, which means alliance and is a coalition of northern Muslim fighters, along with some Chadians and Sudanese; and mainly Christian watchdog militias that call themselves anti-balaka, which sometimes translates to anti-machete. Both groups were accused of committing atrocities against civilians, including rape and mass murder.
Why did rebel groups that were enemies recently come together?
The precise reasons are not clear. But they joined in an alliance called Coalition of Patriots for Change. And they are believed to have the support of a former president, François Bozizé. He took power in a 2003 coup and was overthrown by 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 the coalition represents, but they present themselves as a legitimate political force. Abakar Sabone, a minor warlord who is a kind of coalition spokesman, said in a telephone interview: “We would have taken power if that were what we wanted, but we are giving Touadéra a second chance to open a discussion inclusive.
“But if he tries to be stubborn,” he continued, “then we will go to the capital and get him out.”
How is everyday life now?
Bangui is under siege. The rebels are blocking entry routes, restricting supplies. A bag of flour in February tripled in price from the previous month.
Alhadj Sali Abdou, 56, who lost the supermarket he owned when the war broke out in 2013, now earns about $ 3 a day by selling baguettes outside his home. He said he had never seen things as bad as now.
“I don’t want to say that I am totally desperate,” he said, adding that if peace were restored, he could rise again.
With so many people displaced, families are camping in churches. Many do not have food, spare clothes, bedding or kitchen 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 residents of the capital, are banned because rebels use them, so people are often arrested.
How long has the Central African Republic been unstable?
Outsiders have long explored the area that is now the Central African Republic. When the sultans ruled, he was plagued by slave traders. Then, the French colonialists rented it to companies that forced the local population to work for them. About half the population died over 50 years after the arrival of the first French explorers.
Independence leader Barthélemy Boganda died in a mysterious plane crash in 1959, a year before full independence. And since then, the country has rarely been at peace, plagued by political rivalries. In 1965, President David Dacko was deposed by a military commander, with French support. Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who later proclaimed himself emperor, ruled for 14 years and was accused of atrocities, including the murder of schoolchildren for not wearing uniforms in his image. Bokassa was convicted of murder and sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison. He died in 1996.
After the Bokassa era, the country suffered a succession of coups, riots and more French military interventions. The United Nations has deployed a peacekeeping force since 2014 to help protect civilians from antagonists.
Is the instability related to the country’s diamonds and gold?
It may well be. The country’s great agricultural and pastoral potential is undeveloped and its population is among the poorest in the world. Almost three-quarters live below the $ 1.90 a day international poverty line. The government has no control over about two-thirds of the country, including some of the main mining areas.
Rebel groups smuggle diamonds and gold and collect taxes from miners and others in the trafficking chains. So they have a financial interest in keeping things as they are and preventing the government from gaining more control.
What is the government doing about the rebel alliance?
President Touadéra enlisted Russia’s help in training soldiers from the Central African Republic, and a Russian is the president’s security adviser. Some see this as part of a pattern of expanding Russian military influence in Africa.
In December, in the face of a rebel offensive, the Touadéra government asked Russia for more help. Three hundred Russian reinforcements were sent – Russia said they were military advisers. Rwandan soldiers were also sent to help, in addition to many Rwandan peacekeepers in the country with the United Nations.
The 13,500 UN peacekeepers were supposed to protect civilians and prevent armed groups from inflicting violence on the population. They helped secure the election, but are powerless to disarm the rebels and are often subject to rebel attacks. Some have also been accused of sexual abuse.
It is not yet clear how long the costly peacekeeping mission will remain in the country.
Is there any hope?
Government forces, with their foreign allies, began to repel the rebels, who in early February agreed to a ceasefire and voluntarily withdrew from the western city of Bouar, which they had conquered a month earlier.
The imminent trial of two anti-balaka leaders at the International Criminal Court in The Hague is the court’s first trial for crimes committed in the conflict in the Central African Republic.
The defendants, Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and Alfred Yékatom, are the highest-ranking anti-balaka leaders to be tried. This could begin to fill what Human Rights Watch called a “vacuum of justice” that 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 reporting from Bangui, Central African Republic, and Mady Camara from Dakar.