The country, the second least developed in the world, has been the scene of a civil war since 2013, although it has declined considerably in intensity for four years.
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About 15 civilians were killed in attacks by armed groups on December 6 and 7 in central-eastern Central Africa, in the grip of fighting between rebels and the army, the UN said. In Boyo, about 400 kilometers east of the capital Bangui, “about fifteen civilians were killed” according to the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic (Minusca), also evoking “cases of amputation, extortion and destruction of homes and nearly 1,500 displaced persons”. The UN has pointed the finger at the responsibility ofa militia dominated by Christians and animists, thees anti-balaka, in these attacks.
When civil war erupted in 2013 after a coup against President François Bozizé by the Seleka, an alliance of Muslim-majority armed groups, the ousted president formed the anti-balaka to deal with this rebellion. Since then, the Central African conflict has persisted, but has declined considerably in intensity over the past three years, even if entire sections of the territory continue to escape central power. A coalition of rebel groups launched an offensive in December 2020 to try to overthrow the head of state Faustin Archange Touadéra, who was running for a second term.
Reelected, Faustin Archangel Touadera called to the rescue Moscow and Kigali who have dispatched massively Russian paramilitaries, “mercenaries” private company Wagner, according to the UN, and elite Rwandan soldiers. These forces have reconquered the vast majority of the country and pushed the rebels back into the bush, from where they are stepping up guerrilla actions. La Minusca “strongly condemns the recent violence deliberately targeting civilian populations” and also warned about “risks of targeting and exactions directed exclusively against Fulani communities which could be committed”. On November 28, around thirty civilians and two soldiers were killed in attacks carried out according to the authorities by another rebel group, the 3R (Retour, Réclamation, Réhabilitation), mainly made up of Peuls, very powerful in the north-west of the Central African Republic.
#RCA| The #MINUSCA Strongly condemns the recent violence deliberately targeting the civilian populations in Boyo (Ouaka prefecture), and the perpetrators of which are armed elements coordinated and assimilated to the anti-Balaka. https://t.co/6shNcg5ffx pic.twitter.com/dvEZpvoXNe
– MINUSCA (@UN_CAR) December 20, 2021
President Faustin Archange Touadéra decreed on October 15 “a unilateral ceasefire” of its army and its allies to promote the opening of a dialogue soon. The main armed groups had announced that they would also respect a ceasefire.