Central African Republic

The basics

• Landlocked Nation

• 2.89% arable land

• Religions: indigenous beliefs 35%, Protestant 25%, Roman Catholic 25%, Muslim 15%

• Population 5.3 million (2014 est)

• Maternal Mortality and Infant Mortality (4th worst in the world)

• Life expectancy: 51

• Literacy Rate: 56%

• Agriculture is over half of GDP which declined -14.5% in 2013

Dacko

• Aug. 13, 1960, President David Dacko proclaimed the republic's independence from France. Dacko amended the Constitution to transform his regime into a one-party state with a strong presidency.

• On 5 January 1964, Dacko was elected in an election in which he ran alone.

• He developed a close relationship with China while distancing himself from the French

• The nation was suffering economic stagnation, allegations of corruption, and communist influence received mixed reviews

Coup and Bokassa

• Col. Jean-Bédel Bokassa, army chief of staff was a cousin of Dacko and had French military experience

• Seizing the opportunity the problems in CAR were suffering from he overthrew Dacko in a coup on Dec. 31, 1965,

• He dissolved the National Assembly and ripped up the Constitution

• He promised to have elections soon

• Bokassa imposed a number of new rules and regulations: men and women between the ages of 18 and 55 had to provide proof that they had jobs, or else they would be fined or imprisoned

• Begging was banned and a "morality brigade" was formed in the capital to monitor bars and dance halls. Polygamy, dowries and female circumcision were all abolished

Bokassa in the extreme

• He converted to Islam to get Libyan aid then went back to Catholicism

• Bokassa retitled the nation the Central African Empire and self proclaimed himself emperor.

• By January 1979, French support for Bokassa had all but eroded after food riots in Bangui led to a massacre of civilians.

• April of 1979, a large number of elementary school students in Bangui and elsewhere in the country were arrested after they had protested against paying for and wearing the expensive, government-required school uniforms with Bokassa's image on them.

• Around 100 children were killed.

• Amnesty International indicated that the 100 or more school students who died suffocated or were beaten to death while being forced into a small jail cell following their arrest.

Coup again (Operation Barracuda)

• French troops in 1979, invaded the nation, removed Bokassa and put Dacko back in power.

• Central African Republic was restored. Bokassa fled to Ivory Coast

• Bokassa was eventually arrested, tried, and sentenced to prison in 1987. (Freed in 1993)

• Served as a puppet of the French for two years

Coup Again

• In 1981, in a bloodless coup, Dacko was overthrown by by army chief of staff General André Kolingba.

• He ruled as a corrupt military dictator until 1986, when he submitted a Constitution to a national referendum.

• The Constitution was approved and an election was staged which resulted in Kolingba being named president for a period of six years, 1986–1992.

Election

• Under international pressure, an election was scheduled for 1993.

• USA and France forced him to hold proper elections.

• Kolingba came in fourth, with only 12 percent of the

• Angé Patassé won the presidency

• It marked the first--and to date--only time since independence that an incumbent president peacefully surrendered power to the opposition.

Patasse

• Most of his supporters lived in the most populous northwestern savanna regions of the CAR, and thus came to be called "northerners“

• Whereas all previous presidents were from either the forest or Ubangi river regions in the south, and so their supporters came to be called "southerners".

• Tensions between the two groups increased under Patasse as he replaced many southerners with northerners in government positions.

Hanging on to power

• Three mutinies were conducted and held off under Patasse.

• Economy improved slightly as donor money resumed after free election of 1993

• He beat Kolingba and Dacko is questionable election of 1999

Coup again

• In 2003, with Patasse out of the country, a coup was initiated by army chief of staff, François Bozizé

• Bozizé appointed Célestin Gaombalet as Prime Minister.

• Bozizé also suspended the country's 1995 constitution after seizing power, and a new constitution, reportedly similar to the old one, was approved by voters in a referendum on 5 December 2004

• After seizing power, Bozizé initially said he would not run in a planned future presidential election, but after the successful constitutional referendum, he announced his intention to stand as a candidate.

Bush war

• The Central African Republic Bush War was a civil war in the Central African Republic between Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) rebels and government forces.

• The rebellion began after François Bozizé seized the nation's presidency 2003. Actual fighting began in 2004. Around 10,000 people were displaced because of the civil unrest.

• The rebellion consisted of multiple rebel groups, several of which were of very small size and founded only towards the end of the conflict.

• A number of peace agreements has been signed to resolve the conflict between 2007 and 2012. The most important agreement, the Global Peace Accord (signed in Libreville, Gabon on 21 June 2008), was first signed by the ARPD, UFDR, and FDPC groups. The agreement granted amnesty for any acts perpetrated against the state prior to the agreement, and called for a disarmament and demobilization process to integrate former rebels into society and the regular CAR armed forces.

Election and threats

• On 30 December 2004, Bozizé was one of five candidates approved to run in the presidential election scheduled for early 2005.

• In late January of 2005, it was announced that more candidates would be permitted to run in the election, bringing the total to 11 and leaving only Patassé barred.

• Bozizé placed first in the 13 March election, taking just under 43% of the vote according to official results.

• He won in the second round of voting and was sworn in on June 11th 2005.

• The National Assembly authorized Bozizé to rule by decree for three months, from 1 January to 31 March 2006.

• In early 2006, Bozizé's government appeared stable. However, Patassé, who was living in exile in Togo, could not be ruled out as a leader of a future uprising.

• His supporters reportedly were joining or were prepared to join rebel movements in belief that their leader was still the rightful head of state of the country.

• Further, members of Kolingba's Yakoma tribe in the south posed a potential threat to Bozizé's government.

Bozize again

• In February 2010, Kolingba died in France.

• Bozizé signed a presidential decree setting the date for the next presidential election as 25 April 2010

• The elections were first postponed to 16 May, and then indefinitely.

• However, elections were held in January and March 2011. Bozizé and his party both won in the elections.

Civil War begins

• In March 2013, Bozizé was ousted by rebels from the northern part of the country.

• The rebels, who are mostly Muslim and collectively known as Seleka, have been engaged in battles with government troops and said they overthrew Bozizé because he failed to follow through on earlier peace deals.

• Michel Djotodia, the coup leader, assumed power, suspended the constitution, and dissolved parliament.

• In mid-April he created a transitional national council that named him interim president. He was sworn in as head of state in August and promised to hold free and fair elections within 18 months. The African Union suspended the country in response to the coup, and refused to recognize Djotodia as president

Total Chaos

• Djotodia was not able to stem the violence in the country.• CAR spiralled into chaos. Seleka rebels terrorized civilians, and Christian

opponents (Anti-Balaka) formed their own militias to retaliate and defend themselves and were equally as brutal to Muslims.

• About 1 million people fled their homes. • In October, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the country had

experienced "total breakdown of law and order," and he authorized the deployment of a peacekeeping force. In December, the African Union said it would increase the size of its force there from 3,500 troops to 6,000.

• France deployed 1,600 soldiers to CAR. Many feared that CAR was on the brink of experiencing a genocide. In April 2014, the UN authorized a force of 12,000 peace-keeping troops. They were deployed to CAR in September.

Samba-Panza to the rescue?

• At the urging of regional leaders, Djotodia resigned in January 2014 for his failure to stem the escalating violence between Christians and Muslims that left the country in tatters.

• In January, the 135-member national transitional council elected Catherine Samba-Panza, an insurance broker and the mayor of the capital, Bangui, as interim president.

• She will serve for one year until elections are held in July 2015. She will not run in the elections. The council named André Nzapayeke as prime minister. Both the interim president and prime minister are Christians.

• A cease-fire was signed in July 2014 by the rival Muslim and Christian militias, but it collapsed just two weeks later. In August, Mahamat Kamoun was appointed prime minister. The country's first Muslim prime minister, Kamoun previously worked for Djotodia.

News

• http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/has-the-world-forgotten-the-central-african-republic/?ref=topics

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/opinion/allowing-another-rwanda.html

• http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/africa/last-ditch-effort-emerges-to-restore-order-in-central-african-republic.html

• http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/feb/16/central-african-republic-elections-united-nations

Video

• http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=92f_1391679580

• http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/27/central-african-republic-rebels-seleka

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQAxQgevEA