Crisis Report of Central African Republic

8/11/2019 Crisis Report of Central African Republic

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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPORT 1

CRISIS REPORT

OF CENTRALAFRICAN

REPUBLICIn the Name of Humanity Before too Late...


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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPORT2

Prepared by: Serhat Orak

IHH Africa Desk Coordinator

Published By: IHH Humanitarian and Social Researches Center

Photos: Kemal Gm (Journalist of Star Newspaper)

Contact: IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation

Byk Karaman Cad. Taylasan Sok. No: 3 Pk. 34230 Fatih/Istanbul-TURKEY

Ph: +90 212 631 21 21 | Fax: +90 212 621 70 51

www.ihh.org.tr | [email protected]


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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

BRIEF INFORMATION

THE ROLE OF THE COALITION OF SELEKA

THE EMERGENCE OF ANTI-BALAKA ORGANIZATION

FRANCES MILITARY INTERVENTION

IS THE CRISIS IN THE COUNTRY POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS?

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

THE CONDITION OF MUSLIMS

THE PREVENTION OF THE CRISIS BECOMES INCREASINGLY

DIFFICULT

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

RECOMMENDATIONS

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The recent events in the Central African Republic in December 2013 were a

multifaceted crisis with political, religious, economic and human dimensions. While

the balance sheet of the crisis has been getting heavier everyday due to the conflict

in the country, the military and civilian casualties have been increasing rapidly. A

multilateral cooperation is required in order to overcome the crisis situation in

Central African Republic and to ensure the state of normalization in the country,

where more than 2 million people need humanitarian assistance, more than one

thousand abandoned their home and more than 1000 were killed. In fact, there

has been a concern, in the name of humanity, of the events in the Central African

Republic getting uncontrollable and turning into interreligious conflict.

This report is prepared after the field trip to the Central African Republic andintended to give information about the country, to lay the foundation for the

cooperation and to draw attention to the crisis towards interfaith conflict in

the country. During the trip conducted by IHHs Africa Desk Coordinator

from December 22 to 28, we have tried to elicit a real photo on what has been

happening in the country through making interviews with representatives of civil

society organizations, media representatives and government officials.

INTRODUCTION


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Besides thelocal language

Sangho, the

French languageremained one ofthe two officiallanguage of the

CAR which gainedindependence from

France in 1960

BRIEF INFORMATIONAs a landlocked country in the Middle

Africa, the Central African Republic

(CAR) is one of the poorest countries in

the region. The country has a population

of 4.5 million and borders with Sudan,

Chad, Cameroon, Congo, Democratic

Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Besides the local language Sangho, the

French language remained one of the two

official language of the CAR which gained

independence from France in 1960. The

population constituted by 50% Christian

(Catholic and Protestant), 30% Animist,

20% Muslim in the CAR where different

ethnicities live in coexistence.

The countrys economy is based on

agriculture, despite having underground

resources like gold, diamonds and uranium.

The country in the tropical climate zone

receives heavy rain during certain periods.

The region was used to be named as

Oubangui-Chari under French Colonial,

but then named as Central Africa since its

independence. The capital city Bangui has

the highest population density. Despite the

Muslim communities live in the northern

part of the country, bordering Chad

and Sudan; a considerable proportion

of Muslim population live in Bangui, the

capital city, as well.


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The armed militias, known as the Union

of Democratic Forces for Unity, launched

fighting against the government under

the leadership of Michel Djotodia in the

immediate aftermath of the military coup ByFranois Bozize in 2003. Thus, the country

witnessed intense fighting from 2004

to 2007. A ceasefire has been declared

with the agreement of the Parties held in

Gabon, and there has been no conflict in

the country from 2007 to 2011. However,

clashes resumed in the late months of 2011

and a new political crisis in the Central

African Republic broke out.

The Seleka Coalition has played a major

role in shaping the countrys current politicalstructure. This armed coalition, which was

formed against the intense corruption and

repression of the government of Franois

Bozize who served as a president between

the years 2003-2013, consists of five different

armed movements in the northern part of

the country coming together. This armed

movement that occurred in rural areas of

the country overthrew the government

by reaching to the capital Bangui in March

2013, after took control of some cities in

2011. These groups have formed a coalition

in September 2012 under the name of

Seleka. The Seleka Coalition predominantly

composed of Muslims predominantly

has established a transitional government

through overthrowing the government of

Franois Bozize who came into power in

2003 after a military coup. Michel Dijotodia,

one of the commanders of Seleka, and a

person previously made diplomatic mission

in Sudan was brought to Presidential task,

and the call of an election within 18 monthswas requested.

Michel Dijotodia is the first Muslim president

of the country. According to the agreement,

Djotodia and the members of Seleka were

decided not to be candidate in the elections

which will determine the governance of the

country. It was agreed in the negotiations

held in Chads capital NDjamena that

Djotodia will not be called as the president of

the state, rather the president of transitional

government.1

With the inauguration ofDjotodia, a new government constituted

by Christians and Muslims came into power.

The prime ministry has been given to the

Christian Nicolas Tiangaye, the countrys

one of the prominent lawyers such as of

Bokasso and Bozize.

After the presidential oath, the President

Djotodia came into office in August 2013,

and announced the dissolution of the Seleka

Coalition in September 2013 as some of the

fighters from the Coalition which broughtthe President into power were mixed up in

ordinary crimes.2

1- http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/18/

centralafrican-chad-idUSL5N0D54S320130418

2- http://www.france24.com/en/20130913-central-

african-republic-djotodia-dissolves-seleka-rebel-group/

THE ROLE OF THE COALITION OF SELEKA


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Franois Bozize, ousted by Seleka, took

refuge firstly in Cameroon and then in Benin

after leaving the country. By bringing his

supporters together in a short time, Bozize

launched the recent violent activities in the

country by attacking against the government

with large amount of money took with him.

Anti-Balaka called gangs which are loyal to

Bozize carried out executions especially in

Muslim villages, mosques, and invaded the

homes of Seleka members. The so-called

gangs called by local people as Balaka

have brutally killed thousands of people in

a short time. The gang Anti-Balaka carried

such inhumane practices as cutting childrens

throats, emboweling pregnant women,

and feeding people to the crocodiles

alive; have been trying to overthrow the

THE EMERGENCE OF ANTI-BALAKA

ORGANIZATION


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government by fighting with its forces. After

the formal termination of Seleka Coalition

in September 2013, Anti-Balaka gangs

intensified their attacks by busting the village

Bouca and killing up to 40 Muslims during

the morning prayer time in mid-September.

The sequence of the recent incidents

that triggered the crisis in the country at

the moment, broke out at the beginning

of December 2013. While intensifying

their attacks against the Muslims from

December the 2nd, the Anti-Balaka militia

carried out executions by invading the

homes of former commanders of Seleka

on December 5. Other leaders belonging

to Seleka have managed to escape from the

night attack when four important leaders of

Seleka were killed; however, their homes

were destroyed during that night attack.

Former members of Seleka who survived

the massacre took refuge in safer places

like mosques, schools and camps. The Red

Cross Organization announced that theycollected 281 bodies from the streets

because of the violence which occurred

that night.3

3- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-25273681


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FRANCES MILITARY INTERVENTIONOn the same days, by bringing the escalating

violence in the country to the agenda,

France began to increase the number oftroops in the country by issuing a decision

in United Nations Security Council. France

announced that she took on a task of

protecting the civilians by placing around

1600 soldiers in the country, adding new

ones to the existing troops in the Central

African Republic. Besides, the French

troops have been accompanied by up to

4,000 African Union soldiers.

France, which adopted a policy of

disarmament to end the violence in the

Central African Republic, began to check

people in the streets, to collect weapons

and cutting tools by entering into Muslim

neighborhoods under the name of

disarming the members of Seleka. As this

unilateral attempt at disarmament has

weakened the Muslims, it has encouraged

the Anti-Balaka gang, which located onopposite side, more. Upon the violence,

the Muslim community who believed that

France lost its neutrality has begun to

criticize France and to show their reactions

with street protests. Lastly, the Muslims

warned France of unilateral disarmament

policy and clearly declared that they would

fight against France if she does not change

that attitude.4

While Frances military presence in the

country has changed the balance between

Muslims and Christians in the country, it

has paralyzed neutralized the government

4- http://www.france24.com/en/20131224-central-

african-republic-rebels-seleka-protest-france-

intervention/


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Upon the violence, the Muslim community whobelieved that France lost its neutrality has begunto criticize France and to show their reactionswith street protests.

as well. The banks, schools and business in

the country have been closed for a long

time. Public institutions are not working. In

addition, due to the economic difficulties

the government has been unable to pay the

salaries of officers and soldiers. The military

vehicles of France and the African Union

have been running rampant on the streets

of the capital. The free move of the civilians

in the streets has been made almost more

impossible. The strategic points in the country

have been controlled by the French troops.

Military intervention initiative for the

Central African Republic was compared

with the military operations of France

in 2012 against northern Mali. However,

military intervention in the Central AfricanRepublic differs from the situation in Mali.

While the operation in Mali was a regional

intervention, there was an operation across

the country in the Central African Republic.

While Mali operation has been executed in

three northern cities with low density, the

operations in the Central African Republic

included the densely populated capital

and other cities. Despite Mali operation

was executed on the ground of war

with Islamic terrorism, and supported

by different countries, the picture in the

Central African Republic was different

and free of terrorism hazards. As the

operation in Mali was performed at the

request of Malis government, there was

not such a demand from the government

side in the Central African Republic.


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The crisis in the Central African Republic

does not have religious bases; rather it is

a political crisis that is often voiced. But it

is also clear that the events increasingly

polarize Muslims and Christians.

The countrys Muslim, Catholic and

Protestant leaders often make a call for

peace and seek to terminate the violence

as soon as possible. Although these calls

are partially effective, it is unlikely to

appease the events without stopping

anti-Balaka militia, which is the main

source of violence in the state. Political

crisis integrated with financial and

humanitarian crisis is gradually shifting to

a religious conflict.

2.2 millionpeople in need of humanitarian assistance785.000people left their home

IS THE CRISIS IN THE COUNTRY

POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS?


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The humanitarian situation caused by

the crisis in the political arena, affects

all Muslim and Christian population of

the country. The crisis is not only in the

capital Bangui, but also spread to other

cities of the country. People fleeing

from violence have sought refuge in

safe camping areas, mosques, schools,

madrassas, and churches. As the size of

the humanitarian crisis in the Central

African Republic is expanding, those

who find opportunities have been

leaving the country; but those who could

not, have taken refuge in safer places.

According to United Nations reports,

2.2 million people, in the country with a

population of 4.5 million are in need of

humanitarian assistance. Over 785,000

people, more than 370,000 in capital

Bangui were estimated to left their

home. The number is around 100,000

for those who take refuge in campsnear the airport.

The neighboring countries such as

Chad and Cameroon began to evacuate

their citizens from the area with their

airplanes. The embassies and the

airport are filled with people waiting for

evacuation from the country.

The increases in number of people who

leave their places of residence make the

humanitarian relief efforts in the region

difficult. Identifying the actual needies,

and delivering assistance to them are

highly difficult in the growing chaos.

Even though four major hospitals in

the capital Bangui give service actively,

the hospitals cannot be adequate

for meeting the needs in such an

environment where clashes happen

every day. The treatment of the injured

has been proceeding to be made in the

tent hospitals set by NGOs. A serious

shortage of medicines in the country

has begun to emerge.

The aid agencies working in the area

can meet food needs from domestic

market; however, the necessarymedicine for the sick and wounded

must be brought from the outside of

the country. In addition; tent is needed

for the people, who leave their homes

due to violence, to be able to take

shelter.

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS


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THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

The media play an important role in putting

recent developments in Central Africa in

the picture for the world. Due to the small

number of local media organizations in the

country and their lack of infrastructure,the international media organizations play

an important role in publicizing the events.

However, especially the large organizations

of French media provided biased news

coverage from the field.

In particular, some media outlets broadcast

from the region insisted on that claims that

Muslims living in Central African Republic

are foreign elements. The message that

the Christians are the real owners ofthe country has been given by these

publications by indicating the discourse that

the Muslims are the minority immigrant

traders coming from neighboring countries

like Chad and Sudan. This approach is quite

a serious obstacle on the establishment of

peace in the country.

The existence of Islam and Muslim

inhabitants for ages is the reality of this

lands. The countrys ruling by Muslim

Sultans in precolonial period in an indicator

of this. Moreover, Christianization of the

region was carried out by the missionaries

during the colonial period. In short, the

Muslims are not the foreign elements but

the owners of the country.

Another distortion in the media isregarding a Muslim president. A country

with a Christian majority to be governed

by Muslims has been criticized openly in the

media outlets. But there is no legitimacy of

those criticisms. A mixed government is on

power in the country. The prime minister

and the majority of the ministers holding

nearly all the powers are Christians. The

countrys first Muslim president Michel

Djotodia does not have an ideological

Islamic rhetoric, and follows populist

politics.

This disinformation made by media outlets

has been sharply criticized by Michel

Djotodia time to time.


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The number of deaths in the recent

conflict in the Central African Republic

has exceeded the number of 1000. The

vast majority of those murdered peoplein the attacks are Muslims. The Muslim

communities in the country are exposed

to the clear violence of Christian Anti-

Balaka gang. Nurul-Islam Mosque that

we visited during our field work was fairly

like a corpse store. 23 dead bodies in the

mosques courtyard were stinky and eaten

by flies. The congregation of the mosque

told us that they could not bury the bodies

for security reasons. This event that does

not find a place in the Western media

summarizes the conditions of Muslims in

the country. Besides, the congregation of

the mosque reported that they could not

get a shroud for the dead, and there have

been heavy attacks and burning initiatives

against mosques.15

The Central African Republic, where

Muslim and Christian communities had

lived in peace for years, has come to

a dangerous point, which pits the tworeligions against to each other nowadays.

5- http://jafrianews.com/2013/12/22/central-

african-christians-torch-mosque-to-take-revenge-

from-muslims/

There we have a scene reminiscent of

the massacre in Rwanda. The extremist

Christian Anti-Balaka gang has declared a

war to all the Muslim elements (includingMuslim soldiers in peacekeeping) and

been implementing all kinds of inhumane

violence just as vowed to eradicate all

Muslims. The developments in the Central

African Republic followed closely by the

Western world could not find a place on

the agenda of the Islamic world. The is no

country or institution showing interest

to what has been happening in the CAR

from the Islamic world. This situation leads

the Muslims in the country to feel helpless

and alone. On the other hand, Christian

terrorist organization Anti-Balaka has

been armed and encouraged by some

circles. Thus, an appropriate ground for

the clash of two religions in the region

has been paved by a dirty game being

prepared.

THE CONDITION OF MUSLIMS

The Central African Republic, where Muslim andChristian communities had lived in peace foryears, has come to a dangerous point, which pitsthe two religions against to each other nowadays.


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The prevention of crisis, deepening and

getting new dimensions each passing

day, becomes increasingly difficult.

Multilateral cooperation is required

in the solution of multi-dimensional

crisis in the CAR. Only France and the

African Union troops finding a solution

to the issue is not possible. Consultation

among religious leaders, international

organizations and all actors, who can

play a role in such a crisis, is required toact on a common ground. Otherwise,

it seems inevitable that the onset of

a massacre in the country could not

be prevented and the killing of civilians

just because of the religion they belong,

as well as the removal of these people

from their places. The unilateral interests

should be immediately left aside; rather

the common interests should be looked

after in the name of humanity. Not only

Muslims or Christians but also the basic

human values are in stake. The prudent

messages of the top-level authorities

such as Vatican, Islamic ScholarsAssociation, the Protestant leaders and

the Presidency of Religious Affairs should

be released, and mass bloodshed in the

name of religion should be avoided.

THE PREVENTION OF THE CRISIS

BECOMES INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT


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In case of the continuation of the crisis,

the worst possible scenario is the

outbreak of a religious-based war in

the country. In this case, Christians to

Muslims and Muslims to Christians will

attack to each other and too much

blood will be shaded. In the event of the

worst scenario, the outbreak of a major

wave of immigration and the influx of

immigrants to neighboring countries

such as Chad, Congo and Cameroon are

predicted. If a similar massacre occurred

in Rwanda in 1994 take place, the strong

side will oppress the weak side and the

massacres in genocidal proportion can beperpatrated. In such an environment, the

intervention of the present actors to the

events will become impossible, since they

become completely out of control. The

mesh of the tragic events will be shaped

in its own course as well.

The crisis is not likely to be well

administered, although the possibility

is not low. For the realization of this

possibility; giving support to the existing

state structures and the launch of

initiatives to reduce the humanitarian

crisis in the country must be started as

soon as possible. International NGOs

assuming a more active role in the Central

African Republic and taking steps to

prevent the crisis promptly are necessary

to meet the basic human needs. At this

point, it is a great responsibility for the

political and religious leaders, and the

NGO representatives of Turkey and the

Islamic world.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS


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The urgent steps to be taken for the

resolution of the crisis situation and for

the prevention of faith-based war can be

as follow:

1. It seems quite indifferent how the

world public opinion approaching the

case. Primarily, free from the dimension

of French solution, other relevant actors

and African Union should mobilize more

vigorously on this crisis.2. As one of the victims in the country

is Muslim community, Organization

of Islamic Conference (OIC) should

take initiative by being a side, and send

observer delegation to the region.

3. The Turkish government authorities

associated with humanitarian relief (TIKA,

the Directorate of Religious Affairs and

the Turkish Red Crescent etc.) should

work in the region where emergencyrelief needed.

4. The NGOs in the Islamic world should

be mobilized and while conducting relief

operations to eliminate humanitarian

victim-hood on one hand, on the other,

they should act to sustain social peace on

the level of civil initiatives.

5. All media outlets should be responsive

to the humanitarian tragedy in the

country, and take the case to their agenda

by aiming to prevent possible massacres

in order to mobilize international

community.

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Documents

Crisis Report of Central African Republic