Persistence Of The Crisis In The Central African Republic PDF Download

Congress has held hearings, appropriated aid funds, and conducted oversight in response to the situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), which has experienced state collapse and conflict since a rebel movement known as the Seleka seized control of the government in 2013. Despite a post-rebellion political transition culminating in the 2016 inauguration of a new president, Faustin Archange Touadera (a former Prime Minister who ran as an independent), security and humanitarian conditions have deteriorated. The European Union (EU), U.N., Russia, and the United States are providing support to the national military (the FACA), but state security forces remain weak and dogged by a history of abuses and militia infiltration. Competitions over mineral resources, cattle migration routes, and trade have been key drivers of conflict. Armed groups control much of the country, despite donorbacked efforts to extend state authority. In February 2019, the government and 14 armed groups signed a peace accord brokered by the African Union (AU) in Khartoum, Sudan. The new agreement-the eighth since 2013-calls for a unity government, demobilization of non-state combatants, and the creation of interim mixed security units comprising security forces and former rebels. Several groups threatened immediately to withdraw from the accord, prompting questions over its durability and impact. Prospects for full implementation-which arguably would require that armed groups relinquish control of lucrative economic interests- are tenuous. Few drivers of grassroots-level conflict have been addressed. Much of the violence in CAR has played out along ethnic and sectarian lines, driven by tensions over identity, citizenship, and exclusion. The Seleka was led by largely Muslim combatants with ties to CAR's remote northeast, and to neighboring Sudan and Chad, drawing support from communities that some in CAR view as foreign. Christianand animist-led "anti-balaka" ("anti-machete" or "antibullet") militias formed to fight the Seleka, but ultimately targeted Muslims in general. CAR's population was about 15% Muslim and 85% Christian or animist, but anti-balaka attacks in 2013-2014 forced much of the Muslim population in the south, center, and west to gather in small enclaves or flee to other countries or the rebel-held northeast-a pattern U.N. investigators termed "ethnic cleansing." Rebel alliances have since shifted as groups have sought to gain leverage in peace talks and advance their economic interests. Some coalitions have bridged sectarian divides, underscoring the extent to which social cleavages have been instrumentalized during the conflict. Notably, some antibalaka groups have collaborated with some ex-Seleka factions to target members of the (mostly Muslim and pastoralist) Fulani ethnic community. Several Fulani-led armed groups have emerged in response.