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News > Central African Republic

60,000 People Flee Violence in the Central African Republic

  • UN soldier patrols the streets after a rebel attack, Bangui, Central African Republic, Jan. 13, 2021.

    UN soldier patrols the streets after a rebel attack, Bangui, Central African Republic, Jan. 13, 2021. | Photo: EFE

Published 15 January 2021
Opinion

This country has been experiencing violence since late 2012 when Muslim rebel groups overthrew President Francois Bozize and started a civil war.

The United Nations Agency for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday warned that nearly 60,000 people have fled the Central African Republic (CAR) to neighboring countries due to violence at the hands of armed groups that reject the results of the December 27 elections.

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"Most of them fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), crossing the Ubangui River, where the number of arrivals exceeded 50,000 after 10,000 Central African refugees arrived in a single day on January 13," UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov said.

In the last month, about 9,000 Central Africans arrived in Cameroon, Chad, and the Republic of Congo. Another 58,000 Central Africans have been forcibly displaced within their country.

UNHCR is gathering information on possible abuses committed by these armed groups, including sexual violence, attacks on voters, and looting.

On January 13, armed groups rejecting the re-election of President Faustin-Archange Touadera tried to take the capital Bangui. Their attack was repelled by the Army, Russian and Rwandan troops, and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA).

Opposition politicians also do not accept the results of the Presidential elections. They argue that the elections were not an "expression of the will of the people" as over 40 percent of the polling stations remained closed for security reasons.

The Central African Republic has been experiencing a scenario of violence since late 2012 when Muslim rebel groups (the Seleka) overthrew President Francois Bozize (2003-2013) and started a civil war.

To resist the attacks of the Seleka, Christians formed militias, which ended up fragmented into a myriad of armed factions.

Despite the signing of a peace agreement in February 2019, the militias still control two-thirds of the territory of the Central African Republic, a country rich in diamonds, uranium, and gold.

Many armed groups are supported by former President Bozize, who in the elections backed the opposition leader Anicet Georges Dologuele. His candidate, however, only achieved 21 percent of the vote.

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