International Crisis Group

The Central African Republic’s Hidden Conflict

Nairobi/Brussels  |   12 Dec 2014

Away from the international spotlight, the Central African Republic’s rural areas are turning into fields of violence as war over territory and livestock hits a highly vulnerable population, with effects increasingly felt in neighbouring Cameroon and Chad.

In its latest briefing, The Central African Republic’s Hidden Conflict, the International Crisis Group examines a dangerous conflict-within-a-conflict requiring urgent action by the transitional government and its international partners. Targeted by anti-balaka militias and ex-Seleka fighters, many pastoralist communities are left in extreme poverty and forced to flee. Tens of thousands cross the border to Cameroon and Chad where, in turn, land pressure intensifies. Many of the victims seek retribution or join armed groups to survive, becoming actors in a conflict that divides communities and damages a pillar of the traditional economy.

The briefing’s major findings and recommendations are:

• To break the cycle of violence and retaliation between militias and pastoralist communities, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Central African livestock ministry should create an information network that identifies areas at risk of violent confrontation and helps the Central African authorities and international forces to take action.

• To prevent an outbreak of violence during the current transhumance between Chad and Central African Republic and avoid conflict over natural resources in areas with high cattle concentration such as south-western Chad, CAR authorities, the neighbouring countries and NGOs should work together, under the aegis of MINUSCA (UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission), to identify temporary settlement and grazing areas in the Central African Republic, Chad and Cameroon.

• To ease intercommunal tensions and prevent the radicalisation of young pastoralists and their involvement with armed groups, community radios should be used to broadcast messages recalling the common interests of pastoralists and farming communities and encouraging exchange between them. Livelihood activity programs led by international NGOs should include pastoralists.

• To help economic recovery, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) should launch a feasibility study to restart livestock breeding where the security situation allows it.

• The fight against cattle theft and trafficking should be included in the mandate of a special MINUSCA cell against gold, diamond and ivory trafficking, whose creation Crisis Group has been recommending since June 2014.

“The country’s crisis has exacerbated old conflicts and produced new ones. Rural Central African Republic is now the stage for a violent competition over livestock, the wealth of the poor”, says Thibaud Lesueur, Central Africa Analyst. “It is a highly divisive and often deadly confrontation, weakening the economy, allowing the proliferation of armed groups and undermining efforts to put the country back on the path of stabilisation”.

“For too long, the focus of the transitional government and the international community has been on Bangui”, says Thierry Vircoulon, Central Africa Project Director. “If the country is to overcome its violent path, they need to take into account what happens outside the capital and make support for the rural population and pastoralist communities an integral part of their strategies”.

FULL BRIEFING AVAILABLE IN FRENCH

CAR: The time for hard questions | Thierry Vircoulon

The violent events at the beginning of October in Central African Republic – the public murders and clashes in the capital, Bangui; the less publicised killings across the nearly ungoverned countryside (an area greater than that of France); the raids along the CAR-Cameroon border – are symptoms of the breakdown of the international community’s security arrangements and of CAR’s interim government itself.

The international focus has understandably been on Bangui, where the transitional government is located. The October clashes made clear that the disarmament efforts by France’s Operation Sangaris have had little effect. Everyone has guns, including citizens simply hoping to protect themselves. Urban insecurity is rife, making it easy to spark a riot. In charge of peacekeeping since 15 September, the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) took its first deadly casualty and is clearly struggling to control the capital, let alone the country.

Bangui’s insecurity exacerbates that of the transitional government; some of the more serious fighting of the past two weeks was just outside interim president Catherine Samba-Panza’s residence. Following the Brazzaville summit at the end of July, the government has so far been unable to guide intercommunity dialogue or to initiate the national consultation as planned. Recent accusations against President Samba-Panza of misdirection of funds from Angola have further weakened her government, which is reaching the dangerous point of being considered by some to be part of the problem rather than of the solution.

FULL ARTICLE (In Pursuit of Peace - Crisis Group Blog)

Photo by International Crisis Group

Central African Republic: A Transition at Risk | Crisis Group

On 26 September 2014, the United Nations Secretary-General convened a high-level meeting on the Central African Republic. The meeting aimed to identify the next steps for the restoration of peace and stability in the country, following the signing of the Brazzaville Cessation of Hostilities agreement on 23 July, the appointment of a new transitional government on 24 August and the transfer of authority from the African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA) to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) on 15 September. The meeting was attended by CAR’s President Catherine Samba-Panza and representatives of the five Permanent Members of the Security Council, regional states, regional organisations and international financial institutions. The International Crisis Group sent the following letter to the participants ahead of the meeting.

Letter to the Participants of the High-Level Meeting on the Central African Republic | 26 September 2014

Excellencies,

The Central African Republic’s seven-month-old transition is at risk. The country’s leaders and partners meeting in the special high-level event at the UN General Assembly on 26 September 2014 should redouble efforts to put it back on track.

The July Brazzaville summit, which aimed to end CAR’s de-facto partition, has not stopped the fighting. The main armed groups are in disarray, lack clear leadership, seek to expand their areas of control and pursue banditry as much as politics. They should be contained to allow space for the political process. Political elites in Bangui are divided. The government has become weaker, faces growing popular discontent and has been accused of favouritism, with the choice of a new Prime Minister criticised. Despite a display of unanimity, CAR’s neighbours pursue competing and often ambiguous strategies in the country.

FULL LETTER (In Pursuit of Peace - Crisis Group Blog)

Photo: UN Photo/Cia Pak

Reconciliation in Central African Republic ‘a distant prospect’ | Mark Caldwell

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is opening a new investigation into atrocities committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) in the last two years.

Months of fighting between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and the Christian anti-Balaka militia have left at least 5,000 people dead. The atrocities to be probed include murder, rape, forced displacement, persecution, pillage and the use of children under the age of 15 in combat.

DW: Can you see the process of reconciliation between the warring factions becoming easier if justice is seen to be done and perpetrators of atrocities are brought to justice?

Thierry Vircoulon: I think right now we are very far away from the prospect of reconciliation in CAR. A lot of massacres happened last year and there is unfortunately still fighting going on so reconciliation seems to be a very far away prospect. I think it’s very welcome that the ICC has finished its preliminary investigation and that the conclusion is that they will definitely investigate further the crimes that have been committed and that are still being committed in Central African Republic. We must not forget that this is a request that has made to the ICC by the transitional government, it is not the initiative of the ICC.

FULL INTERVIEW (Deutsche Welle)

Photo: Pierre Holtz for UNICEF/hdptcar/Flickr

Where delaying elections can build peace | Landry Signé and Grace Kpohazounde

Elections are crucial to peace processes in post-conflict countries, but their organization before sufficiently addressing the root causes of conflict — and ensuring the serious political commitment of former belligerents — can jeopardize the achievement of sustainable peace and successful democratic transition.

On Jan. 28, the U.N. Security Council adopted Resolution 2134 to address humanitarian, security and political concerns in the Central African Republic after a military coup and civil war, which had accelerated state collapse. Resolution 2134 called for the holding of elections “as soon as possible, but no later than February 2015 and, if possible, in the second half of 2014,” giving barely a year to the then-interim government and all the parties (or belligerents) involved to create trust among parties, reorganize the disintegrated administration, disarm factions, ensure security and create a credible electoral management body.

FULL ARTICLE (The Washington Post)

Photo: Catholic Relief Services/S.Phelps/UNHCR Photo Unit/Flickr