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10 Things You Didn’t Know About The CAR Crisis

10 Things You Didn’t Know About The CAR Crisis

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The Central African Republic is the worst crisis most people have never heard of, according to Samantha Brown, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Here are 10 key points you didn’t know about the history of the country’s conflict leading up to its current humanitarian nightmare.

Sources: britannica.com, prezi.com, unhcr.org, infoplease.com, guardian.com, resolutionpossible.co.uk, worldnews.nbcnews.com, “Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism,” “Encyclopedia of African History”

ilike2learn.com
ilike2learn.com

1. A Brief Historic Overview of CAR

The land was first populated by nomads seeking refuge from persecution; the Banda from Sudan and Baya from Chad eventually developed into definitive nation-states like Dar al-Kuti, Zande, and Bandi. Artifacts dating back at least 8,000 years have been found in the CAR. CAR was an epicenter for a slave trade run by Arabic-speaking Muslims, hence the modern-day Muslim presence in the country. It was not until the 19th century when it became heavily populated.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

2. French Colonization

The French Empire, already established in the Congo, pushed into the area in the 1880s, and eventually included the region as the fourth part of its federation. Named Oubangui-Chari for the two rivers hugging the land from the north and south, the territory became centralized in Bangui, now the capital of CAR. Merging with Chad, Gambon, and Middle Congo, the country’s four parts became unified as French Equatorial Africa. Raw material such as ivory and wild rubber were tapped, and exhaustive labor was mandatory for all native people living under colonial rule.

colnect.com
colnect.com

3. Establishing the Central African Republic

When World War II broke out, African citizens of French Equatorial Africa began to support the Free French movement, and nationalistic factions rose, especially in Oubangui-Chari. After the war, France — under a revised constitution of the newly-established Fourth Republic — set up representative councils for African colonies, and Barthelemy Boganda was elected as Oubangi-Chari’s delegate. He founded the Mouvement de L’Evolution Sociale de l’Afrique Noir to fight for independence, and was suppressed by the French government. Under fire after the Algerian uprisings, France made the Fifth Republic with a new constitution, granting autonomy to all former colonies. The Central African Republic was born Aug. 13, 1960, and Boganda elected its first president.

occidentaldissent.com
occidentaldissent.com

4. Power Struggles Persist Today

Boganda was killed in a plane crash in 1960, and his successor was David Dacko, who immediately jailed his primary rival and made sure to install a strong paramilitary government. In a coup, Dacko was overthrown by Boganda’s nephew, Jean-Bedél Bokassa, who dissolved the constitution and crowned himself emperor in 1977. Despite Bokassa’s single-party, terrorizing regime that massacred dissenters and spent to excess (the French, reliant on CAR for its rich uraniam, donated millions for Bokassa’s ridiculous coronation ceremony, pictured above), he was counter-overthrown by Dacko.

en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org

5. Bozizé’s Ascension

Dictatorship after dictatorship led to the first democratic election in 1993. Angé-Felix Patassé was elected, and faced down three attempts at mutiny which were suppressed by the French military until its withdrawal in 1999. François Bozizè, Patassé’s fired former army general, led the final coup which overthrew Patassé. Bozizè waited until his legitimate election in 2005. However, a regional mass conflict was beginning.

permanentsolution.com
resolutionpossible.com

6. CAR Bush War

Rebel forces struck at towns in the north, causing thousands to flee into Chad. The main rebel groups (there were many) were the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the People’s Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), made up of Patassé supporters (the map above breaks down the various groups). The rebel groups engaged in conflict with CAR military and cut swaths through the country, upending villages and massacring citizens. In 2008 a peace treaty was signed with the rebel groups. Simultaneously, Bozizè’s army was forced to fight Joseph Kony’s invading Lord’s Republican Army from Uganda. The final rebel group to hold out, the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace signed a peace agreement in 2012, but a new bloody horizon was nigh.

thesourcecameroon.webs.com
thesourcecameroon.webs.com

7. The Seleka Alliance

Bozizé was re-elected, but soon after the 2012 peace agreements were signed, rebel groups dissatisfied with the president’s follow-through organized the Muslim-majority rebel group Seleka Alliance, led by Michel Djotodia. Seizing many villages all around the country, they finally stopped right outside of the capital, agreeing to a momentary peace treaty in late 2012. However, in March 2013, despite protection by armies from Chad, South Africa, and Cameroon, Seleka resumed its campaign, taking Bangui and forcing Bozizé and his family to flee the country.

scrapetv.com
scrapetv.com

8. Extreme Violence Ensues

Djotodia installed himself as the uncontested Muslim leader of the mostly-Christian CAR, and a transitional government ensued. What has become of this transition is ethnic terrorizing of innocent civilians of the country. As a response to Seleka’s violence toward the Christian majority, the Christians took up arms, calling themselves “Anti-Balaka.” Revenge action has been taken by the Anti-Balaka to a level of near genocide: rape, human torching, beheading, children recruited into both militias…the list goes on. There is an estimated one million displaced people, and nearly 900,000 — a quarter of the population — have fled to neighboring countries.

guardian.com
guardian.com

9. Human Rights Aid and Action Taken

President Djotodia resigned in January 2014, but Muslims have been increasingly targeted since. “It has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere, in places like Rwanda and Bosnia,” said John Ging, operations director for the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (guardian.com). The U.N. deployed thousands of French and African troops to the area, and calls for further action. The European Union mobilized troops and peacekeepers to supervise the new transitional government. But a general outcry against lack of relief and protection went out. Many aid workers and journalists cite huge delays in aid. Of the $247 million in aid requested by the U.N., just 6 percent has been honored.

unhcr.org
unhcr.org

10. An Uncertain Future and How to Help

The transitional parliament has just elected Bangui’s mayor, Catherine Samba-Panza, as its interim president. She claims no ties to either battling side, which could bode well for the country’s future. Meanwhile, the refugee crisis mounts; donations from the World Bank and the African Development Bank are in the works, and France’s involvement will likely include more military protection for civilians. The International Rescue Committee has responded swiftly, providing food for more than 10,000 people and sanitation for more than 40,000. But violence continues as the EU deliberates.

For information on how to help, go to the IRC’s website hereUNHCR and Save the Children.