The Central African Republic is currently awash in media coverage regarding the ongoing sectarian violence and general upheaval in the country. While many outlets have discussed the situation in the CAR, there have been few fully encompassing analyses of the violence that it in a proper historical context and discuss the interests of some of the countries that are in the CAR such as France or Chad while others are watching from afar, yet still interested, such as the United States. The violence in the CAR is unprecedented and worrisome; however, historically this is nothing but another unfortunate and bloody chapter regarding the instability of the country.
Though he showed increasingly strange behavior as time passed, the French still maintained good relations with him, even going so far as to congratulate him when he declared the CAR an empire and took the title of emperor.
However, the French eventually turned their backs on him [3], due to his increased yearning to decide foreign policy on his own, and helped to put Dacko back into power via a coup against Bokassa in 1979.
In 1981, elections took place and Dacko emerged victorious over challenger Ange-Félix Patassé, but charges of fraud remained. Just months later in September, Army Chief of Staff General André Kolingba seized power in a military coup. While, there was a coup attempt against him involving Ange-Félix Patassé[4], the coup failed and Patassé fled to the Togo, eventually coming back in the early '90s.
Kolingba operated what was essentially a military dictatorship into the 1990s due to a new constitution in 1986, which "provided him a single-party state and six-year term as president."[5] This aided him in the 1988 elections as opposing political parties were not allowed to participate.
In 1993, Ange-Félix Patassé was elected president of the CAR. The instability of the country continued with three different army mutinies in April, May, and November of 1996. The first munity occurred when some 400 soldiers demanded paychecks, with soldiers "[entering] the homes of business executives, demanding money and vehicles and beating those who refused." It would be proper to note here that the governments that have ruled over the CAR have generally been extremely corrupt, with the IMF/World Bank noting in 2013 that on a regional level, corruption was hindering the growth of many Central African states. According to Transparency International, the CAR is near the bottom on a list of the least-corrupt states, ranking 150 out of 175. It was, in part, due to corruption and larger economic problems, which led to army members not being paid.
After the April and May mutinies, Patassé "formed a new government that included Kolingba supporters, but the country's main opposition groups refused to join the coalition." [12] However, a third mutiny in November still occurred as soldiers took advantage of Patassé being out of the country. Once again, the French came to his aid as they "rapidly deployed patrols throughout the city to protect key points and provide support to the Presidential Guard. Additional French Foreign Legion troops were flown into CAR from Chad to supplement the 1,750 soldiers already stationed in the country." [13] The mutiny was eventually put down, but had threatened to devolve into ethnic conflict.
The troubles didn't end for Patassé as in May 2001; Kolingba
sponsored an unsuccessful military coup which set off a series of events that ultimately led to Patassé's removal. After the coup attempt, the president accused his Army Chief of Staff, François Bozizé, of involvement and fired him on October 26, 2001. Bozizé rallied troops to resist his sacking, but was ultimately forced to leave for exile in southern Chad. These events deeply split and weakened the CAR armed forces-the Central African Armed Forces-dividing it between Patassé and Bozizé loyalists.
In December 2004, voters in the CAR accepted a new constitution which " Quickly following this change was the 2005 presidential elections in which Bozizé ran as an independent and won. Out of this election came the rise of the Peoples' Army for the Restoration of the Republic and of Democracy (APRD), led by Jean-Jacques Demafouth, and made up mainly of former Presidential Guard members. Another group that came out of the elections was the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), which "is made up largely of the mainly-Muslim Gula ethnic group" and "includes men who helped Bozizé overthrow Patassé in 2003 but who subsequently felt disgruntled with the lack of recompense." Both of these groups are from the northern region of the CAR and have actively fought against the Bozizé government.
However, the goals of the Dialogue never came to fruition:
However, to talk about Séléka, there needs to be a discussion regarding the ongoing sectarian violence involving Muslims and Christians.
The Guardian reported in December 2012 that Séléka had formed and that among their demands was " Thus, it can be seen that group formed, at least partially, in response to the failed political dealings with the CAR government.
Religiously, Séléka members "were recruited from Muslim communities settled in CAR or in the 'three border areas' (Chad, Sudan, and CAR)." The formation of the group aided in the heightening of sectarian tensions as
(not much of a discriminating factor, as the CAR population is more than 75% Christian). While Séléka fighters have notional inclinations for political Islam, they share a strong sense of communal identity and a will to avenge previous CAR regimes and their beneficiaries identified as Christians Lay Muslims in CAR today are less likely to be harassed by the Séléka, and most often, there is cooperation. The whole Muslim community is therefore perceived as supporting the Séléka and hostile to the core Christian population.(emphasis added)
This anti-Christian bias was revealed soon after the group took control of the capital. The Congressional Research Service reported in May 2014 that
In January 2014, Michel Djotodia stepped down as President[34] , following pressure from Chadian president Idriss Déby. Djotodia was soon replaced with Catherine Samba-Panza, the former mayor of Bangui.[35]
However, this raises the question: What interest does Chad have in the Central African Republic? And for that matter, are there any other interested parties?
Chad is a neighboring country and has been involved in the internal politics of the CAR for quite some time.
Séléka . There were accusations that Chad backed
Another interest of Chad is oil. "'Chad is drilling oil from that border region and it's actually a shared oilfield with CAR,' [Enough Project's field researcher Kasper] Agger said. While there is no drilling on the CAR side yet, Chad has high interest in keeping tight control over the area."[39]
Thus it is no wonder that Chad is keeping a close eye on the CAR, even if they did withdraw their troops earlier last year.[40]
The CAR's former colonial power also has interests at stake, which stem mainly from Bozizé's rule.
Right before he was overthrown, in 2012
Bozizé and thus let him fall.
The US sent their UN ambassador Samantha Power to the CAR in late 2013 to appeal for peace.[48] It should be noted that Power wants the US to intervene more and "has made a career out of scolding the U.S. for not intervening around the world enough,"[49] such as in her magnum opus where she lamented that the US didn't intervene to stop the Armenian genocide during the First World War. In fact, she is quite fond of the 'Responsibility To Protect' doctrine and "was one of the driving forces behind the United States intervention in Libya."[50] So an eye should be kept on her, knowing that she may push for further US intervention.
So far the US has sent delivered aid to peacekeepers [51], airlifted African troops into the CAR[52] , and sent troops to support the US embassy resuming its activities[53] , but not much else.
On a regional level, the US is interested in the CAR not just for any of its vast resources, but specifically oil. A 2013 Brookings Institution report entitled
Top Five Reasons Why Africa Should Be a Priority for the United States noted that "significant new discoveries have prompted the [International Energy Agency] to anoint sub-Saharan Africa the 'new frontier' in global oil and gas" and "the emergence of new oil and gas producers in the region presents potential benefits for U.S. national security interests, if this new found wealth is managed appropriately [...] Several countries could also potentially become oil suppliers to the US, further diversifying the sources of US imported oil."
The US concern with African oil is nothing new as it was noted in 2002 that
Already, 15 percent of the United States' imported oil supply comes from sub-Saharan Africa. Oil experts predict that the amount of oil the United States receives from the prolific fields of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola will double in the next five years.
"African oil is of strategic national interest to us and it will increase and become more important as we go forward," Walter Kansteiner, assistant U.S. secretary of state for African Affairs, said during a July 2002 visit to Nigeria - the largest oil producer in West Africa with an estimated 24 billion barrels in reserve. (emphasis added)
Just as with the French, the Americans are also concerned about China. From that same Brookings report:
China's engagement in Africa has profound geopolitical implications for the U.S. global strategy. [...] China is looking beyond the traditional pursuit of economic benefits and aspires to increase and solidify its strategic presence through enhanced political, economic, diplomatic and academic resources. The failure to perceive and prepare for China's moves would be dangerous, unwise and potentially detrimental for the United States in the near future.
So, the US is concerned with resources, but all the more so due to a major competitor that is actively making moves in the region.
More recently, in January 2015, the UN stated that it had found evidence of ethnic cleansing done by Christian militias against Muslims, giving confirmation to the alarms that had been raised in June 2014 and even before that in late 2013. Unfortunately, the violence is only continuing.
[14] BBC, UN Steps into CAR Ethnic Tension , http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1385090.stm (June 12, 2001)
africa-20845887 (December 27, 2012)
[44] Global Voices, Who Wants to Overthrow the Central African Republic's Francois Bozize?
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/12/30/who-wants-to-overthrow-central-african-republics-president-francois-bozize/ (December 30, 2012)
[56] Brookings Institution , March 2013
