Who is involved?

In the Central African Republic civil war, a lot of people are involved. A lot of changes and new groups came into the picture the longer the war lasted and when a new big event happened.  We start at the point in time that the Central African Republic Bush War ended in 2012. At that point the battle was between the rebels, the Séléka, and the government. 

 

The Séléka, meaning 'union' in Sango, are all the rebel group together. The five main rebel groups are the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the lesser known Patriotic Convention for Saving the Country (CPSK), and the last two groups which are based mainly in the north are the Democratic Front of Central African people (FDPC) and the Chadian group Popular Front of Recovery (FPR). The fighters of these groups are mainly made up of militias, non-professional fighters and are mostly muslim.

 

The president of that time was François Bozizé, a chrisitan, and was accused by the Séléka of failing to abide the peace agreements that were signed to stop the Central African Republic Bush War. When the Séléka attacked the government, other countries, like Chad, Gabon, Cameroon and South Africa, sent troops to help. These troops didn't really help, because in march 2013 the Séléka ceized the capital city Bangui and Bozizé had fled the country.

 

Now that the Séléka had power they declared Michel Djotodia president, which was their leader. Now that another president had the power, there was also a group of people that wanted the old one back and a new rebel group arose: the Anti-Balaka.

 

The Anti-Balaka, meaning 'anti-sword' in Sango, are all the militias who refused to disband. This group is mostly made up of Christians. As people of the Anti-Blaka say; they just want to take back what is stolen from them.

 

Now that the Séléka has reached its goal by having another president, the rebel groups all wanted some of that new power. This caused also wars between the rebel groups, next to the war with the Anti-Balaka.

 

These two groups the Séléka and the Anti-Balaka have the huge fight at the moment, but there are other key actors in it: the help troops. Troops were send from the UN and France. The France troops are supposed to be neutral, but they only unarm the Séléka and not the Anti-Balaka. This results in the Séléka being vulnerable and the Anti-Balaka uses this opportunity to hit back. This happened before the UN forces arrived, now that they have arrived less of thess mistakes are made.

 

After only a few months, president Djotodia was forced to resign, because he could not deal with all the violence. A new president Catherine Samba-panza, who was the mayor of Bangui, has the power at the moment. Samba-panza has no religion and is non-partisan. She leads the country into new elections later this year.