Introduction to the Genocide in the CAR

          The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the least developed countries in the world, struggling to find stability since its independence from France in 1960. According to BBC, approximately 5 million people call the CAR home. They are, and have been, in a state of political, social, and economic crisis since September of 2012, when a faction of one of the CAR’s many rebel groups known as the Fundamentalist Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP) broke the terms of an August 2012 peace accord signed by the government and various rebel factions by attacking three villages. In December of 2012 violence in the East African Nation escalated when a conglomerate of the CAR’s rebel groups known as the Séléka (meaning coalition in the nation’s native Sango dialect) launched an offensive against the government, capturing much of North, East, and central CAR over the course of a month [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13150044]. The unrest in the CAR resumed a few months later in March 2013 after a number of negotiations to reach a truce between the government and Séléka failed. After having already captured large swaths of the country, the rebel alliance renewed its offensive on 22 March 2013 and by 24 March 2013, the Séléka successfully captured the capital Bangui, overthrew the government of then President François Bozizé, and installed rebel leader Michel Djotodia as president in April (Karimi, 2013). This resulted in drastic political chaos. [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/24/central-african-republic-rebels-capital]

            Seeing that the rebels got what they wanted in March 2013, there is speculation as to why they continued to wreak havoc in CAR. The two largest reasons experts present are greed and reprisal (Karimi, 2013). Séléka’s leader has repeatedly been accused of going after the country’s minerals, and there is the fact that the rebels capitalized on the army’s weakness and used it to their advantage. They went on a rampage of rape, torture, kidnappings, looting, and other unthinkable crimes (Karimi, 2013). Vigilante groups have formed in response to the activities of the rebels and anarchy has continued to build, despite recent changes in this country’s government leaders, leaving this country at risk of genocide (Braun & Miles, 2014).

            Following the coup d’etat, the bloodshed and overall humanitarian situation in the CAR became more and more dire with each passing month. Although a small peacekeeping force known as the Mission for the Consolidation of Peace in Central African Republic, comprised of less than 1,000 Central African soldiers, existed in the country before the coup occurred, their small number and lack of willpower to intervene directly in the conflict made them effectively useless.  By October 2013, after months of inaction, the situation in the CAR became so severe that the UN passed a resolution authorizing the establishment of the African-led International Support Mission in the CAR (MISCA), a larger peacekeeping force in the CAR run by the African Union (AU). In December 2013, France followed suit by increasing its number of troops in the CAR to 1,600 soldiers. Since their arrival, French troops have been engaged in various activities, including disarming and arresting rebels, and maintaining security at the national airport and other institutions. Despite the expansion of both the African and French peacekeeping efforts there, the violence in the CAR has continued to grow in both its scale and viciousness, developing a deeply sectarian tone in the past few months between the nation’s majority Christian and minority Muslim populations that has some international experts warning of a possible genocide in the vein of Rwanda. “The list of atrocities committed by warring Muslim and Christian groups in the CAR is devastating: parents forced to watch their children murdered; gruesome, public executions, with victims thrown into mass graves; and the forcible recruitment of child soldiers. Since the start of the conflict, Muslim rebels have raped, pillaged, burned, and killed, proving particularly merciless toward Christians and churches.” [http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2014/0114/Central-African-Republic-needs-UN-peacekeepers-now]

            In terms of the situation’s relevance to global politics, one may consider the recent UN and French military involvement. The genocide continuing in the CAR requires worldwide attention. “CAR is designated by the UN as one of the top three global humanitarian emergencies, along with Syria and the Philippines. But a UN appeal has received only six percent of a $247m target. France hurriedly sent some 1,600 troops to its former colony in December. The deployment of Rwandan troops, the first of whom arrived aboard a US military aircraft on Thursday, will increase the African Union contingent to more than 5,000 peacekeepers this month.” [http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2014/01/un-official-sees-risk-genocide-car-201411703459811255.html]

Sources Used:

BBC. (2013, April 11). UN warning over Central African Republic genocide risk. BBC News.      Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-24800682

BBC. (2014, January 21). Central African Republic profile. BBC News. Retrieved February 19,   2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13150044

Guardian. (2013, March 24). Central African Republic rebels seize capital and force president to flee. The Guardian. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from                                                                        http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/24/central-african-republic-rebels-capital

United Nations Official Document. (n.d.). UN News Center. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/2121(2013)

Jazeera. (2013, March 25). Looting and gunfire in captured CAR capital. al Jazeera. Retrieved       February 20, 2014, from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/03/201332481729584103.html