Central African Republic’s Forgotten Crisis

             The world is full of crises, so many in fact that some drop off the radar screen.  When I worked in Congress, South Sudan and Mali were at or near the top of the list of concerns.  Nigeria has not faded from that list, but a lack of solutions has caused its several crises to fade in public discussion if not public concern.  But what I want to present now is an African crisis that has always deserved far more attention than it has received, and that is the ongoing perilous situation in the Central African Republic (CAR).

             This country is experiencing a humanitarian crisis, an overload of violence largely due to ongoing civil conflict and a governance predicament.  According to a statement by Mankeur Ndiaye, CAR Special Representative and Head of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSCA), the country is experiencing an "unprecedented humanitarian crisis", with 57 percent of the population requiring aid, a quarter of the population displaced and hundreds of thousands of others having fled the country altogether.

             The reason for this upheaval is the ongoing civil conflict in CAR, which began in 2004 with what is known as the Central African Republic Bush War.  In that conflict, the government of then-President Francois Bozizé fought with rebels until a peace agreement was reached in 2007. The current conflict arose when a new coalition of varied rebel groups, known as Séléka, accused the government of failing to abide by the peace agreements and captured numerous towns in 2012, seizing the capital in 2013. Bozizé fled the country, and rebel leader Michel Djotodia declared himself president. Fighting broke out between Muslim Séléka and Christian militias opposed to them called anti-Balaka. In September 2013, President Djotodia disbanded the Séléka coalition, which had lost its unity after taking power, and resigned in 2014.

            He was replaced temporarily by Catherine Samba-Panza, but the conflict continued.  In July 2014, ex-Séléka factions and anti-Balaka representatives signed a ceasefire agreement, but by the end of 2014, the country was de facto partitioned with the anti-Balaka forces controlling the south and west, from which most Muslims had evacuated, and ex- Séléka groups controlling the north and east.  Faustine-Archange Touadéra was elected President in 2016 and reelected in 2020, which triggered the main rebel factions to form an alliance opposed to the results, called the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) – coordinated by former President Bozizé.

Tension over religious identity is but one complicating factor in the ongoing conflict. Ethnic differences, as in many Africa countries, also divides the population into warring factions.   Then there is the historical antagonism between agriculturalists, who largely comprise anti-Balaka, and nomadic groups, who constitute most Séléka fighters. The farmer-herder conflicts are exacerbated by the tens of thousands of cattle that destroy farmlands even as you read this.

Peacekeeping in CAR largely transitioned from the Economic Community of Central African States-led Mission in the Central African Republic to the African Union-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic to the United Nations-led Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic.  A parallel French peacekeeping mission was known as Operation Sangaris.   With all this change in peacekeeping, as you might imagine, it hasn’t been very successful.  In fact, the peacemaking non-governmental organization Concordis did a poll of herders and farmers in CAR and found that a majority of people in both groups would more likely depend on armed groups they believe will defend their interests rather than the international peacekeepers.  Unfortunately, these armed groups often prey on those they are supposed to be protecting.

In addition to the known militia, bandits, known locally as zaraguina, operate in well organized and well-armed criminal gangs, killing, kidnapping for ransom and looting and burning homes. without effective national security forces, they act with impunity. Ethnic Peuhl herders are their main targets because of the value of their livestock. Their attacks have prompted tens of thousands to flee their villages to lead a precarious life in the bush; access to fields and markets is thereby prevented, increasing the likelihood of lower farm yields and malnutrition if not starvation. Imports through major trade routes have been cut, especially from Cameroon, and repatriation of CAR refugees in Chad has been slowed due to their activities.

Not only do the CAR citizens and incoming herdsmen not depend on international peacekeepers, but the CAR government itself appears to rely on mercenaries to supplement its troops.  Russia has deployed hundreds of paramilitaries from private security companies to the CAR to support government forces, but the Russian military aid is now conflicting with the French involvement.

Russia has deployed hundreds of paramilitaries from the private security companies to CAR to support government forces.  Valery Zakharov, the Russian national security advisor to President Touadéra, said on Twitter that a Frenchman had been detained with "huge amounts of weapons and ammunition".  That Frenchman, who had worked as a bodyguard for several organizations in CAR, was arrested. 

The French reaction was quick and significant.  France suspended financial support and military cooperation with CAR, accusing it of backing out of political commitments and of being complicit in a Russian-backed disinformation campaign targeting France's presence in Africa.  France "is the target of a massive disinformation campaign in CAR," an anonymous French foreign ministry source told the Agence France Presse news agency.  That source said that even if Russia is the origin of the campaign, "the Central Africans are at best complicit".

The situation is complicated further by a new governance crisis.  CAR Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada recently handed in his resignation to President Touadera, dissolving the Cabinet.  He made the announcement in a Facebook and Twitter post, hinting that his decision was related to the president's disputed reelection.  Opposition to Touadera’s December 2020 election, as mentioned earlier, had sparked the creation of the CPC and led many to question his legitimacy.  This further diminished a lack of governance capacity in a country riven by conflict and displacement.

Fortunately, all is not lost in CAR.  Peacemaking groups in the country are finding a willingness among a people tired of conflict to find ways to coexist peacefully.  In a recent videoconference convened by Search for Common Ground (SFCG), a number of positive responses to peacemaking efforts reportedly have been found.  Traditional leaders of farmers and herders were said to have indicated at least some desire to work together for an agreed-upon common good.  There evidently is a growing realization that local and regional economies depend on the movement of people, goods and livestock.

SFCG has partnered with Facebook to combat online hate speech and misinformation in CAR, where social media platforms can inflame religious and ethnic conflict. The project builds on a Youth Editorial Group that the organization previously founded in Bangui, but has now repurposed to moderate online debate pages, promote respectful dialogue and ensure accurate information. SFCG has created a hate speech lexicon and launched a popular digital campaign around the general elections held in December 2020.

 

Concordis has taken its programs out of the cities and into the villages along the migration corridors where the conflict is fought and felt, asking women and men about their views, their fears and their aspirations. The organization has spoken with more than 3,000 people – either one-to-one or through small focus groups – to begin to understand the nuances of conflict dynamics, bringing together a representative group of people in each prefecture to discuss these issues in more depth to get to the root causes of individual conflicts. These women and men are a representative sample of the different interests and groups and are key to keeping Concordis programs relevant to the local context.

 

Yet as well-designed and well-intentioned as these programs are, to be truly successful, the international community must coordinate its peacekeeping efforts with peacemaking efforts and work with governments in the region to establish a peace plan, not just for CAR, but also for its neighbors.  As the CAR conflict has demonstrated, this in not just a problem for one country, but for the region as a whole.  Therefore, any lasting solution must be regional in nature, bridging traditional religious, ethnic and herder-farmer divides with the support of CAR and the neighboring governments.

Such a solution would be a great model for other African conflicts that continue to linger or threaten to explode.