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Central African Republic
Area: 622,984 sq km (242,000 sq mi)
Population: 4.1 million (2005 est.)
Capital City: Bangui (population: 690,000)
People and Language(s): the Central African Republic population is made up of more than 80 different ethnic groups, none of which represents a clear majority of the country. They include the Baya, Banda, Sara, Mandja, Mboum, M'baka. French and Sangho are the official languages.
Religion(s): Christianity, Islam and indigenous beliefs are all practised.
Currency: CFA Franc (pegged to Euro)
Head of State: Francois Bozize
Prime Minister: Elie Dote
Membership of international groupings/organisations: Central African Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC), Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC), Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD previously COMESSA), Organisation for African Unity (OAU), International Monetary Fund (IMF)
GEOGRAPHY
Central African Republic (CAR) is landlocked. It is mainly savannah in the north and equatorial forest in the south. Chad borders the north of the country, with Sudan to the east, Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo are on the southern border. Cameroon lies to the west. The Oubangui river, which forms the southern border and flows through the capital Bangui and then south to the Congo basin, is an important transport route.
HISTORY
The territory of present day CAR was called Oubangui-Chari in colonial times, named after the country's two largest rivers. It was one of four territories of French Equatorial African Empire, marking the point where French colonial advance to the east was halted. Colonial rule was based on a plantation economy, and the French were often brutal in their treatment of Africans. CAR was formed in 1958 as the French empire broke up, and became officially independent in 1960. The leader of the country in the 1950s, the priest Barthelemy Boganda, died in a plane crash in 1959. The young teacher David Dacko became President on independence, with strong French backing.
Dacko's rule was corrupt and incompetent. He was overthrown in a coup in 1966 by Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa. If life under Dacko was bad, it was about to get much worse under Bokassa. His rule was utterly despotic, culminating in his decision to transform the country into an empire, with himself as emperor, in 1976. The ruinously expensive coronation ceremony, based on the coronation of Napoleon, became a symbol of the excesses of despotic power. His regime unravelled rapidly in 1979, as he lost the crucial support of the French following an incident in which protesting school children were killed. He was toppled in September in a bloodless coup, orchestrated by the French, who put David Dacko back in the Presidential hot seat. Dacko restored the republic following the imperial interregnum. However, he was duly overthrown again, by the General Andre Kolingba in 1981. Initially the head of a military junta, Kolingba gradually incorporated civilians into his government. In 1986, he formed a political party, the RDC, and he became constitutional president in November 1986.
POLITICS
As in other African countries, at the beginning of the 1990s a combination of international and domestic pressure forced President Kolingba to open up the political system and allow for multipartism. The constitution was re-written allowing for a presidential system, with an elected National Assembly. Presidential elections took place in 1993. The opposition leader Ange Felix Patasse won a 6 year term. Patasse’s government lurched from one financial crisis to the next, suffering from poor financial management and fractious relations with donors. His rule was shaken by a series of army mutinies over pay arrears and a series of national strikes . The French initially intervened to support Patasse in 1996, followed by an African peacekeeping force (MISAB), made up of troops from Francophone Africa and with French technical back-up. In 1998, a United Nations force (MINURA), deployed to the country as the French pulled out their troops. MINURA departed the country in 2000 and was replaced by a UN office. Patasse was re-elected in presidential elections in 1999, which were remarkably peaceful given the country's problems, and sworn in for a new term of office in October of that year.
In March 2003, Patasse's government, again weakened by mutinies and financial crisis, was overthrown by the renegade former chief of Staff General Bozize. Despite continuing problems of lawlessness and banditry throughout the country, Bozize managed to retain control of the state while preparations were made for elections in 2005. Despite having stated on taking power that he would not run for the presidency, Bozize swapped his uniform for civilian attire and did just that. Patasse, currently in exile in Togo, was barred from standing. His former Prime Minister Martin Ziguele represented his party (the Mouvement pour la Liberation du Peuple centrafricain) and took Bozize into a second round in May 2005, which Bozize won with 64.6% of the vote. The elections were generally considered free and fair on the day.
Bozize's newly founded political movement (Convergence Kwa Na Kwa) won 42 of the 105 parliamentary seats in the concurrent legislative elections. He has since formed a government, but his parliamentary majority is unstable. Elie Dote, a relatively unknown technocrat from the African Development Bank, was made Prime Minister, tasked with continuing the improvement in relations with donors. Bozize's government has now been internationally recognised. However, CAR remains very unstable, partly due to spill over of instability in Sudan and Chad, and government authority is minimal outside the capital. In November 2006 the CAR army, with French army support, attacked rebel positions in and around the town of Birao in the north of the countryl.
HUMAN RIGHTS
The history of CAR is unfortunately replete with abuses of Human Rights. Bokassa was the most notorious culprit. Thousands died in his Prisons. Of more current concern are abuses committed by the security forces, which are rarely under the full control of State authorities. There are many credible reports of putchists committing human rights abuses against the population of Bangui in the aftermath of the coup in 2003, and of soldiers and rebels in the north of the country pillaging the local populations (according to Amnesty International reports, amoung others).
These incidents and general security concerns have caused many thousands of refugees from CAR to seek shelter in neighbouring Chad and Cameroon. Demobilisation and disarmament programmes in the first half of 2005 are not considered to have been successful. On January 7 2005, the government referred the situation regarding violence in the country from July 1st 2001 to the ICC. The ICC prosecutor is determining whether to pursue any cases.
ECONOMY
Basic Economic Facts
GDP: US\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\$ 759.4m (2006 est)
GDP growth: 3.0% (2006 est)
Inflation: 3.0% (2006 est)
Major Industries: Agriculture, cotton, diamonds, timber
Major trading partners: European union (especially France and Belgium), United States, Cameroon, China.
Exchange rate: Euro 1 = CFA 655.957 (fixed)
While the majority of the population of CAR relies on subsistence farming or petty trading, the government relies on agricultural exports, diamonds, timber, cotton, and overseas aid. The country is also rich in other natural resources such as gold, and uranium but these are largely unexploited, as are unconfirmed quantities of oil in the northern part of the country. As the country is landlocked, transport costs are a problem for the export sector. Revenues from the cotton sector have declined recently due to poor harvest, instability in the northern cotton growing areas and suppressed international prices. The government has persistent and chronic problems relating to national debt, balance of payments and arrears of salaries.
Development
CAR is desperately poor. A third of the population live on less than one dollar a day, and life expectancy at birth is 40 years, putting the country near the bottom of the UNDP World Development Index (171 out of 177 countries measured). The country is highly dependent on funds from donors. France has always been the biggest bilateral donor. Relations with all donors were very poor in the later years of the Patasse regime and there was a significant build up of unpaid arrears on donor loans. Relations have improved more recently, and in early 2006 the country signed its second IMF Emergency Post Conflict Assistance Loan. The EU has formally re-started project aid, but disbursement has so far been minimal. A donor conference was convened by the African Development Bank in Tunis in October 2006. The inability of the CAR government to repay arrears continues to be the principle stumbling block in relations with donors.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
CAR's relations with neighbours
CAR has good, if low level and uneventful, relations with two of its direct neighbours - Cameroon and Congo - Brazzaville . Its relations with Chad and the DRC have however been marked by disputes over border incursions and the sheltering of dissidents and rebels. Patasse was suported by the Congolese armed group the MLC, who were accused of violence and criminality while in the country. Relations with Chad were tense while Patasse was in power, but they have improved markedly since Bozize took over, and Chadian troops have been deployed to protect the new regime. Libya has shown increasing interest in CAR. Qadhafi provided troops in support of Patassé in 2002 and have since established cordial relations with Bozize.
CAR's Relations with the International Community
The CAR has traditionally looked to its former colonial power for support in terms of aid, military presence and in negotiations with other donors. CAR is a founding member of the French backed regional organisation CEMAC (Cameroon, Congo - Brazzaville, Gabon, Chad and Equatorial Guinea are the other members), which deployed peacekeeping troops to CAR in 2003. The French have seen CAR as part of their strategic presence in central Africa, although the decision in 1997 to withdraw their permanent military base signalled a reappraisal of that presence.
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