The Global IDP Database of the Norwegian
Refugee Council has now updated its country profile on internal displacement
in the Central African Republic. A summary is presented below.
The Database and the country profile can be accessed at www.idpproject.org,
or the complete profile can be sent to you by e-mail on request (idpproject@nrc.ch).
The overthrowing of President elect,
Ange-Felix Patassé by former General Francois Bozizé on 15 March 2003 marked
the culmination of six months of fighting between rebels and troops loyal
to the government of the Central African Republic (CAR). An estimated 200-300,000
were displaced by the fighting which was accompanied by massive violations
of human rights, including rapes, summary executions and looting. The UN
estimates that 200,000 remain displaced, as of October 2003. Food production
was severely disrupted during the fighting and the UN, which has already
received reports of infants dying of hunger, has warned of famine in 2004.
Startlingly, there has been no response from international donors to a
UN flash appeal issued in May 2003. This epitomizes a situation in which
the CAR, having suffered decades of coups, instability, and misrule, remains
one of the least funded countries in the region. The UN itself has described
its current situation as "the world's most silent crisis".
Background and main causes
The potential wealth of the Central African Republic's (CAR) natural resources (diamonds, gold, uranium and timber) has not prevented the landlocked country from appearing on UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) as one of the world's poorest countries. Since Independence in 1960, the country has suffered decades of coups, instability and misrule. The ousting of president-elect Ange-Felix Patassé in a military coup in March 2003 was preceded by years of increasing opposition from the army and civilian employees, some of whom had not received their salaries for several years. The salary arrears also led to repeated strikes among teachers, civil servants, students and pensioners, undermining the government's legitimacy and pushing an already fragile economy further towards collapse.
The six months of fighting that preceded the seizure of power on 15 March 2003 by former General Francois Bozizé resulted in widespread violations of human rights. These included rapes, summary executions and looting on both sides of the front line, as well displacements of more than 300,000 people (ICRC, 8 July 2003). The atrocities committed were exacerbated by an alliance between the former-government troops and an allied rebel group from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Mouvement de Libération du Congo of Jean Pierre Bemba (MLC), in late October 2002. Together these groups reportedly carried out collective assassinations, looted food and cattle, and raped civilians (UN Resident Coordinator, 17 December 2002; FIDH, 13 February 2003).
The government also had the support of Chadian rebels. Early on in the conflict, in October 2002, one such group led by Abdoulaye Miskine forcibly displaced Muslim women, mainly of Chadian origin. A total of 1,600 Muslim women were displaced during the October crisis out of whom 150 were reportedly raped (IRIN, 7 April 2003).
No comprehensive survey on numbers and conditions of Internally Displaced Persons has been carried out during the course of 2003. However, an identification and registration survey currently underway by the Ministry of Social Welfare and National Solidarity is likely to fill this information gap (E-mail from UNDP Bangui, 8 October 2003). The following round-up of figures are estimates from some of the few international organisations in the field.
The two north-western Prefectures Ouham and Ouham Pendé, where President Patassé had particularly strong support, were especially affected by the fighting that started in October 2002. Aid agencies estimate that between 230,000 and 300,000 people were displaced within and from these two Prefectures as a consequence of the fighting (UN OCHA 19 May 2003). The World Food Programme (WFP) estimated in March 2003 that 231,000 people had been uprooted as a result of the fighting and that 105,000 of these had fled from the rebel zones in the northwest to government-controlled areas in the south, mainly to Bangui (IRIN, 24 March 2003). Approximately 200,000 people remain displaced as of October 2003, according to UNDP estimates (E-mail from UNDP, 8 October 2003). UNHCR reports that 41,000 Centroafricans fled to neighbouring countries in the beginning of the year, mainly to Chad. Very few of these have returned as of October 2003. (Telephone conversation with UNHCR Geneva, 20 October 2003)
Malnutrition and fear of hunger
The impact of the events between October 2002 and March 2003 on civilians has been particularly dramatic. Following a mission to the north in July 2003, the UN warned of a possible famine (UN Resident Coordinator 31 July 2003). The WFP Director in CAR has predicted increased child mortality and malnutrition in 2004 because of a huge reduction in the production of cereals as a result of the fighting. He also said that children probably have died of hunger. He went on to warn that people will most likely be eating nothing but cassava between January and April 2004, causing malnutrition which again will reduce the farmers' physical abilities to cultivate (IRIN September 2003). In May 2003, in a flash appeal, the UN had warned that the affected population was exposed to malnutrition, risk of epidemics and widespread degradation of living conditions jeopardizing their very survival (UN OCHA 8 May 2003).
The country's health-care system and administrative management have continued to deteriorate, and health facilities have been systematically looted in some areas. For example, UNICEF reported that all of the 125 health facilities in the east had run out of medicine following the six months of fighting (IRIN, 30 April 2003).
Humanitarian access
During the fighting more than 2.2 million people in the eastern and northern regions were cut off from humanitarian relief organisations (UN April 2003). Although, as of October 2003, there were reports that the security situation is gradually being brought under control, parts of the country remains in a state of lawlessness, with banditry and cattle raiding, especially outside the main transport routes (UN OCHA 6 October 2003; UN OCHA 1 August 2003). In June 2003, the UN Secretary General blamed this continued state of insecurity on a proliferation of weapons and deepening impoverishment (UN SC, 20 June 2003).
Return slow for the 200,000 who remain internally displaced.
An inter-agency mission to the Prefectures of Ouham, Ouham Pendé and Ombella M'Poko, carried out in July 2003, reported progressive but slow return movements. Many civil servants had returned (UN Resident Coordinator, 31 July 2003). However, the mission also reported that armed bandits in some areas paralysed all activities, thus creating fear, especially among farmers. Another obstacle to return movements is that some internally displaced people fear revenge from the new authorities in their places of origin.
International response
It seems that the new authorities have been well received by the international community in spite of the strong condemnations that followed the coup d'etat in March 2003. (UN SC, 20 June 2003) At a regional level the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African States (CEMAC) recognized the self-declared president Francois Bozizé, and encouraged him to go ahead with his plans to restore peace to the country (IRIN, 24 March 2003). This represented a significant turn-around for the CEMAC, which just months before had sent forces to protect the President elect, Ange-Felix Patassé.
In February 2003, the UN-NGO humanitarian coordination body in the CAR set up a commission to identify all internally displaced persons who had fled war-ravaged parts of the country to Bangui, although for security reasons, the mission was postponed. And overall, the specific needs of IDPs have remained largely neglected. Since the beginning of 2003 little humanitarian aid has been provided specifically to IDPs, either from the international NGOs or the UN system (E-mail from UNDP Bangui, 8 October 2003).
The UN Development Programme is coordinating the humanitarian efforts of the UN agencies in the country. Within this framework, the WFP has distributed food to health centres in Bangui, Bouar, Bambari and Lobaye. This represents the first large-scale food distribution in the country since the seizure of power by Bozizé's forces (UN OCHA 3 September 2003). UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) donated drugs and medical equipment in April 2003 worth US $550,000 to be distributed among 890,000 people in six provinces in the east of the country (30 Apr 2003 IRIN).
In March 2003 a WFP spokeswoman described the CAR, as "the world's most silent crisis" (The Guardian 12 March 2003 p. 16). In addition, it is one of the least funded: only around 11,5 % of the requested amount for the CAP appeal was covered as of 20 October 2003. In April 2003, the UN System launched an Appeal for humanitarian assistance for 2.2 million CAR nationals. As of August 2003 there was no response.
One remarkable aspect of the conflict is that it could, according to the UN Secretary General's Representative in the country, Lamine Cissé, have been avoided if the ousted government had received budgetary support from the Bretton Woods institutions. On 4 March, eleven days before the coup d'etat, he stated: 'the solution to the CAR problem resides in the signing of an accord with the International Monetary Fund. So long as this accord is not signed, we will be running around the bush. The country's security, stability and democracy depend on that accord.' In June 2003, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan himself criticized in an unusual strong manner the Bretton Woods institutions. In a briefing to the Security Council, he said that 'owing to lack of cooperation of any kind with the Bretton Woods institutions, the State had been without budgetary support since January 2001, with the exception of Chinese assistance' (UN SC, 20 June 2003). Why this cooperation never materialized remains an open question.
(Updated October 2003)
The country profile includes complete reference to the sources and documents used.