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The Central African Republic (CAR), French:
République Centrafricaine pronounced [ʀepyblik sɑ̃tʀafʀikɛn] or Centrafrique
[sɑ̃tʀafʀik]) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the
north, Sudan in the east, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic
of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west.
Most of the CAR consists of Sudano-Guinean
savannas but it also includes a Sahelo-Sudanese zone in the north and an
equatorial forest zone in the south. Two thirds of the country lies in the
basins of the Ubangi River, which flows south into the Congo River, while the
remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari River, which flows north into
Lake Chad.
Since most of the territory is located in the
Ubangi and Shari river basins, the French called the colony it carved out in
this region Ubangi-Shari, or Oubangui-Chari in French. This French colony of
Ubangi-Shari became a semi-autonomous territory of the French Community in 1958
and then an independent nation on 13 August 1960. For over three decades after
independence, the CAR was ruled by presidents who were not chosen in truly
democratic elections or who took power by force. Local discontent with this
system was eventually reinforced by international pressure, following the end of
the Cold War.
The first fair democratic elections were held
in 1993 with resources provided by the country's donors and help from the UN
Office for Electoral Affairs. They brought Ange-Félix Patassé to power, but
President Patassé lost popular support and was overthrown by French-backed
General François Bozizé in 2003. General Bozizé won a democratic election in May
2005.
Inability to pay workers in the public sector
led to strikes in 2007, forcing the resignation of the government in early 2008.
A new Prime Minister, Faustin-Archange Touadéra was named on January 22, 2008.
The Central African Republic is one of the
poorest countries in the world and among the ten poorest countries in Africa.
In 2001 The Ecologist magazine estimated that
Central African Republic is the world's leading country in sustainable
development.
History
Pre-history
Between about 1000 BCE and 1000 CE,
Adamawa-Eastern-speaking peoples spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan and
settled in most of the territory of the CAR. During the same period, a much
smaller number of Bantu-speaking immigrants settled in Southwestern CAR and some
Central Sudanic-speaking populations settled along the Oubangi. The majority of
the CAR's inhabitants thus speak Adamawa-Eastern languages or Bantu languages
belonging to the Niger-Congo family. A minority speak Central Sudanic languages
of the Nilo-Saharan family. More recent immigrants include many Muslim merchants
who most often speak Arabic or Hausa.
Exposure to
the outside world
Until the early 1800s, the peoples of the CAR
lived beyond the expanding Islamic frontier in the Sudanic zone of Africa and
thus had relatively little contact with Abrahamic religions or northern
economies. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, however, Muslim
traders began increasingly to penetrate the region of the CAR and to cultivate
special relations with local leaders in order to facilitate their trade and
settlement in the region. The initial arrival of Muslim traders in the early
1800s was relatively peaceful and depended upon the support of local peoples,
but after about 1850, slave traders with well-armed soldiers began to penetrate
the region. Between c. 1860 and 1910, slave traders from Sudan, Chad, Cameroon,
Dar al-Kuti in Northern CAR and Nzakara and Zande states in Southeastern CAR
exported much of the population of Eastern CAR, a region with very few
inhabitants today.
French
colonialism
European penetration of Central African
territory began in the late nineteenth century during the so-called Scramble for
Africa (c. 1875-1900). Count Savorgnan de Brazza took the lead in establishing
the French Congo with headquarters in the city named after him, Brazzaville, and
sent expeditions up the Ubangi river in an effort to expand France's claims to
territory in Central Africa. King Leopold II of Belgium, Germany and the United
Kingdom also competed to establish their claims to territory in the Central
African region. In 1889 the French established a post on the Ubangi river at
Bangui, the future capital of Ubangi-Shari and the CAR. De Brazza then sent
expeditions in 1890-91 up the Sangha River in what is now Southwestern CAR, up
the center of the Ubangi basin toward Lake Chad, and eastward along the Ubangi
river toward the Nile. De Brazza and the procolonial in France wished to expand
the borders of the French Congo to link up with French territories in West
Africa, North Africa and East Africa. In 1894, the French Congo's borders with
Leopold II's Congo Free State and German Cameroon were fixed by diplomatic
agreements. Then, in 1899, the French Congo's border with Sudan was fixed along
the Congo-Nile watershed, leaving France without her much coveted outlet on the
Nile and turning Southeastern Ubangi-Shari into a cul-de-sac.
Once European negotiators agreed upon the
borders of the French Congo, France had to decide how to pay for the costly
occupation, administration, and development of the territory. The reported
financial successes of Leopold II's concessionary companies in the Congo Free
State convinced the French government in 1899 to grant 17 private companies
large concessions in the Ubangi-Shari region. In return for the right to exploit
these lands by buying local products and selling European goods, the companies
promised to pay rent to the colonial state and to promote the development of
their concessions. The companies employed European and African agents who
frequently used extremely brutal and atrocious methods to force Central Africans
to work for them. At the same time, the French colonial administration began to
force Central Africans to pay taxes and to provide the state with free labor.
The companies and French administration often collaborated in their efforts to
force Central Africans to work for their benefit, but they also often found
themselves at odds. Some French officials reported abuses committed by private
company militias and even by their own colonial colleagues and troops, but
efforts to bring these criminals to justice almost always failed. When news of
terrible atrocities committed against Central Africans by concessionary company
employees and colonial officials or troops reached France and caused an outcry,
there were investigations and some feeble attempts at reform, but the situation
on the ground in Ubangi-Shari remained essentially the same.
In the meantime, during the first decade of
French colonial rule (c. 1900-1910), the rulers of African states in the
Ubangi-Shari region increased their slave raiding activities and also their sale
of local products to European companies and the colonial state. They took
advantage of their treaties with the French to procure more weapons which were
used to capture more slaves and so much of the eastern half of Ubangi-Shari was
depopulated as a result of the export of Central Africans by local rulers during
the first decade of colonial rule. Those who had power, Africans and Europeans,
often made life miserable for those who did not have the power to resist.
During the second decade of colonial rule (c.
1910-1920), armed employees of private companies and the colonial state
continued to use brutal methods to deal with local populations who resisted
forced labor but the power of local African rulers was destroyed and so slave
raiding was greatly diminished. In 1911, the Sangha and Lobaye basins were ceded
to Germany as part of an agreement which gave France a free-hand in Morocco and
so Western Ubangi-Shari came under German rule until World War I, during which
France reconquered this territory by using Central African troops.
The third decade of colonial rule (1920-1930)
was a period of transition during which a network of roads was built, cash crops
were promoted, mobile health services were formed to combat sleeping sickness,
and Protestant missions established stations in different parts of the country.
New forms of forced labor were also introduced, however, as the French
conscripted large numbers of Ubangians to work on the Congo-Ocean Railway and
many of these recruits died of exhaustion and illness. In 1925 the French writer
André Gide published Voyage au Congo in which he described the alarming
consequences of conscription for the Congo-Ocean railroad and exposed the
continuing atrocities committed against Central Africans in Western Ubangi-Shari
by employees of the Forestry Company of Sangha-Ubangi, for example. In 1928 a
major insurrection, the Kongo-Wara 'war of the hoe handle' broke out in Western
Ubangi-Shari and continued for several years. The extent of this insurrection,
perhaps the largest anticolonial rebellion in Africa during the interwar years,
was carefully hidden from the French public because it provided evidence, once
again, of strong opposition to French colonial rule and forced labor.
During the fourth decade of colonial rule (c.
1930-1940), cotton, tea, and coffee emerged as important cash crops in
Ubangi-Shari and the mining of diamonds and gold began in earnest. Several
cotton companies were granted purchasing monopolies over large areas of cotton
production and were thus able to fix the prices paid to cultivators in order to
assure profits for their shareholders. Europeans established coffee plantations
and Central Africans also began to cultivate coffee.
The fifth decade of colonial rule (c.
1940-1950) was shaped by the Second World War and the political reforms which
followed in its wake. In September 1940 pro-Gaullist French officers took
control of Ubangi-Shari.
Independence
On 1 December 1958 the colony of Ubangi-Shari
became an autonomous territory within the French Community and took the name
Central African Republic. The founding father and president of the Conseil de
Gouvernement, Barthélémy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident in
1959, just eight days before the last elections of the colonial era. On 13
August 1960 the Central African Republic gained its independence and two of
Boganda's closest aides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, became involved in a power
struggle. With the backing of the French, Dacko took power and soon had Goumba
arrested. By 1962 President Dacko had established a one-party state.
On 31 December 1965 Dacko was overthrown by
Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who suspended the constitution and dissolved the
National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself President for life in
1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on 4
December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and
expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world. In 1979 France
carried out a coup against Bokassa and "restored" Dacko to power. Dacko, in
turn, was overthrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on 1 September 1981.
Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled
with a military junta until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in 1986 which
was adopted by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, the
Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC) was voluntary. In 1987,
semi-competitive elections to parliament were held and municipal elections were
held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and
Ange-Félix Patassé, boycotted these elections because their parties were not
allowed to compete.
By 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a
pro-democracy movement became very active. In May 1990 a letter signed by 253
prominent citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference but
Kolingba refused this request and detained several opponents. Pressure from the
United States, more reluctantly, from France, and from a group of locally
represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France, USA, Germany, Japan,
EU, World Bank and UN) finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free
elections in October 1992, with help from the UN Office of Electoral Affairs.
After using the excuse of alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the
elections as a pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under
intense pressure from GIBAFOR to establish a "Conseil National Politique
Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council) (CNPPR)
and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission" which included representatives from
all political parties.
When elections were finally held in 1993, again
with the help of the international community, Ange-Félix Patassé came in first
in the first round and Kolingba came in fourth after Abel Goumba and David
Dacko. In the second round, Patassé won 53 percent of the vote while Goumba won
45.6 percent. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya, Kare and Kaba voters in
seven heavily-populated prefectures in the northwest while Goumba's support came
largely from ten less-populated prefectures in the south and east. Furthermore,
Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain
(MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People gained a
simple but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé
needed coalition partners.
Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of
his military rank of general in March of 1994 and then charged several former
ministers with various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important,
lucrative posts in the government. Two hundred mostly Yakoma members of the
presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned to the army. Kolingba's RDC
loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was conducting a "witch hunt"
against the Yakoma.
A new constitution was approved on 28 December
1994 and promulgated on 14 January 1995, but this constitution, like those
before it, did not have much impact on the practice of politics. In 1996-1997,
reflecting steadily decreasing public confidence in its erratic behaviour, three
mutinies against Patassé's government were accompanied by widespread destruction
of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January 1997, the Bangui Peace
Accords were signed which provided for the deployment of an inter-African
military mission, the Mission Interafricaine de Surveillance des Accords de
Bangui (MISAB). Mali's former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief
mediator and brokered the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April
1997. The MISAB mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force, the
Mission des Nations Unis en RCA (MINURCA).
In 1998 parliamentary elections resulted in
Kolingba' RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats, which constituted a comeback, but in
1999, notwithstanding widespread public anger in urban centers with his corrupt
rule, Patassé won free elections to become president for a second term. On 28
May 2001 rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup
attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou, and General Francois N'Djadder
Bedaya were shot, but Patassé regained the upper hand by bringing in at least
300 troops of the rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from over the river in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and by Libyan soldiers.
In the aftermath of this failed coup, militias
loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of the
capital, Bangui, that resulted the destruction of many homes as well as the
torture and murder of many opponents. Eventually Patassé came to suspect that
General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against him and so
Bozizé fled with loyal troops to Chad. On 25 October 2002 Bozizé launched a
surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the country. Libyan troops and
some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organization failed to stop the
rebels, who took control of the country and thus succeeded in overthrowing
Patassé.
François Bozizé suspended the constitution and
named a new cabinet which included most opposition parties. Abel Goumba, "Mr.
Clean", was named vice-president, which gave Bozizé's new government a positive
image. Bozizé established a broad-based National Transition Council to draft a
new constitution and announced that he would step down and run for office once
the new constitution was approved. A national dialogue was held from 15
September to 27 October 2003, and Bozizé won a fair election that excluded
Patassé, to be elected president on a second ballot, in May 2005.
Politics
The country is currently under the rule
of François Bozizé. A new constitution was approved by voters in a referendum
held on December 5, 2004. Full multiparty presidential and parliamentary
elections were held in March 2005,[1]
with a second round in May. Bozizé was declared the winner after a run off vote.[2]
In February 2006, there were reports of
widespread violence in the northern part of the CAR.[3]
Thousands of refugees fled their homes, caught in the crossfire of battles
between government troops and rebel forces. More than 7,000 people fled to
neighboring Chad. Those who remained in the CAR told of government troops
systematically killing men and boys suspected of cooperating with rebels.[4]
Prefectures
and sub-prefectures
The Central African Republic is divided into 14
administrative prefectures (préfectures), along with 2 economic
prefectures (préfectures economique) and one autonomous commune. The
prefectures are further divided into 71 sub-prefectures (sous-préfectures).
The prefectures include:
- Bamingui-Bangoran
- Basse-Kotto
- Haute-Kotto
- Haut-Mbomou
- Kémo
- Lobaye
- Mambéré-Kadéï
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- Mbomou
- Nana-Mambéré
- Ombella-M'Poko
- Ouaka
- Ouham
- Ouham-Pendé
- Vakaga
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the two economic prefectures are Nana-Grébizi
and Sangha-Mbaéré; the commune is Bangui.
Geography
The Central African Republic is an entirely
land-locked nation within the interior of the African continent. Much of the
country consists of flat, or rolling plateau savanna, typically about 1,640 feet
(500 m) above sea level. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills, and there are
scattered hills in southwest part of the country. To the northwest is the Yade
Massif, a granite plateau with an altitude of 3,750 feet (1,143 m).
At 240,519 mi² (622,984 km²), the Central
African Republic is the world's 43rd-largest country (after Somalia). It is
comparable in size to Ukraine, and is somewhat smaller than the US state of
Texas.
Much of the southern border is formed by
tributaries of the Congo River, with the Mbomou River in the east merging with
the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows
through part of the country. The eastern border lies along the edge of the Nile
river watershed.
Estimates of the amount of the country covered
by forest ranges up to 8%, with the densest parts in the south. The forest is
highly diverse, and includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli
and Sipo. [5] The current deforestation
rate is 0.4% per annum, and lumber poaching is commonplace.
The climate of the C.A.R. is generally
tropical. The northern areas are subject to harmattan winds, which are hot, dry,
and carry dust. The northern regions have been subject to desertification, and
the northeast is desert. The remainder of the country is prone to flooding from
nearby rivers.
Economy
The economy of the CAR is dominated by the
cultivation and sale of food crops such as cassava, peanuts, maize, sorghum,
millet, sesame and plantains. The importance of foodcrops over exported cash
crops is indicated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple
food of most Central Africans, ranges between 200,000 and 300,000 tons a year,
while the production of cotton, the principal exported cash crop, ranges from
25,000 to 45,000 tons a year. Foodcrops are not exported in large quantities but
they still constitute the principal cash crops of the country because Central
Africans derive far more income from the periodic sale of surplus foodcrops than
from exported cash crops such as cotton or coffee. Many rural and urban women
also transform some foodcrops into alcoholic drinks such as sorghum beer or hard
liquor and derive considerable income from the sale of these drinks. Much of the
income derived from the sale of foods and alcohol is not "on the books" and thus
is not considered in calculating per capita income, which is one reason why
official figures for per capita income are not accurate in the case of the CAR.
The per capita income of the CAR is often listed as being around $300 a year,
said to be one of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on
reported sales of exports and largely ignores the more important but
unregistered sale of foods, locally-produced alcohol, diamonds, ivory, bushmeat,
and traditional medicine, for example. The informal economy of the CAR is more
important than the formal economy for most Central Africans.
Diamonds constitute the most important export
of the CAR, frequently accounting for 40-55% of export revenues, but an
estimated 30-50% of the diamonds produced each year leave the country
clandestinely.
The CAR is heavily dependent upon multilateral
foreign aid and the presence of numerous NGO's which provide numerous services
which the government fails to provide. As one UNDP official put it, the CAR is a
country "sous serum," or a country hooked up to an IV. (Mehler 2005:150) The
very presence of numerous foreign personnel and organizations in the country,
including peacekeepers and even refugee camps, provides an important source of
revenue for many Central Africans.
The country is self-sufficient in food crops,
but much of the population lives at a subsistence level. Livestock development
is hindered by the presence of the tsetse fly.
Export trade is hindered by poor economic
development, and the location of this country far from the coast.
The natural wilderness regions of this country
had good potential as ecotourist destinations. The country is noted for its
population of forest elephants. In the southwest, the Dzanga-Sangha National
Park is a rain forest area. To the north, the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National
Park has been well-populated with wildlife, including leopards, lions, and
rhinos. To the northeast the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park. However the
population of wildlife in these parks has severely diminished over the past 20
years due to poaching, particularly from the neighboring Sudan.
Demographics
The population has tripled since independence.
In 1960 the population was 1,232,000. The current population is at 4,303,356. (Note:
estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess
mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant
mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the
distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2006 est.) )
The United Nations estimates that
approximately 11% of the population ages 15 - 49 is HIV positive.[6]
Only 3% of the country has antiretroviral therapy available, compared to 17%
coverage in neighbouring countries of Chad and the Republic of the Congo.[7]
The nation is divided into over 80 ethnic
groups, each having its own language. The largest ethnic groups are the Baya
33%, Banda 27%, Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, Mboum 7%, M'Baka 4%, and Yakoma 4%, with
2% others, including Europeans. Religiously, about 35% of the population follows
indigenous beliefs, 25% is Protestant, 25% is Roman Catholic, and 15% is Muslim.
References
- Maria Petringa, Brazza, A Life for
Africa (2006) ISBN 9781-4259-11980
Notes
Web Links
- Humanitarian Situation
- News
- Overviews
- Directories
- Ethnic groups
-
African Pygmies Culture and music
of the first inhabitants of the Central African Republic, with photos and
ethnographic notes
- Tourism
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