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CAR - Developments - 2021

Up against a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping force as well as hundreds of Russian and Rwandan soldiers and paramilitaries deployed in late December, the Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC) rebels had been in retreat since a 13 January 2021 attack on the capital, Bangui, was thwarted. The latest violence was blamed on CAR’s former president, Francois Bozize, and his allies. It erupted after the constitutional court rejected Bozize’s candidacy to run for president in December 2020. A 2019 peace deal between the government and 14 rebel groups aimed at ending years of fighting.

Before the December 2020 elections, the country was rocked by clashes between rebel groups that supported Bozizé and those loyal to Touadéra. At the request of the Central African authorities, Russia sent 300 additional instructors to the country, as well as four Mi-8 helicopters with crew and maintenance engineers to reinforce the national army on the eve of and during the general elections.

According to the UN, newly displaced populations were primarily located in CAR’s Basse-Kotto, Mbomou, Nana-Grébizi, Nana-Mambéré, Ombella-M’poko, Ouaka, Ouham, and Ouham-Pendé prefectures, as of January. Displaced households are sheltering in town centers, in forested areas outside of towns, and with host families. In addition, the violence has resulted in significant protection violations, including sexual violence and separation of children from their families, according to State/PRM partner the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). September estimates of acute food insecurity initially projected 1.9 million people in CAR would face Crisis—IPC 3—or worse levels of acute food insecurity through April 2021. However, the significant increase in mass population displacement, declining trade, increases in food prices and insecurity -related field access challenges for farmers who were unable to fully harvest crops has contributed to approximately 2.3 million people in need of emergency food assistance in early March 2021, according to USAID/BHA partner the UN World Food Program (WFP).

The escalating armed conflict has had a particularly adverse impact in Bangui, as insecurity, threats to customs officials, and targeted attempts by CPC elements to cut off supplies to the capital prevented commercial and humanitarian organizations from transporting supplies to the city from mid-December to early February. As the blockade continued, relief actors reported declining local food stocks, rising prices of staple goods, and shortages of medicine and other basic items in the city.

The arrival of a humanitarian convoy carrying food assistance and relief commodities from WFP and other relief actors has helped alleviate the heightened humanitarian needs in Bangui and surrounding communities. Escorted by MINUSCA, the convoy successfully traveled from neighboring Cameroon’s Garoua-Mboulaï town to CAR between February 3 and 8, and delivered nearly 90 metric tons (MT) of food commodities to Bouar town, located in Nana-Mambéré, as well as 60 MT of food to Bangui. The convoy’s arrival marks the first successful passage of commercial or humanitarian commodities along Main Supply Route 1 (MSR-I)—Bangui’s primary overland supply route—since mid-December, international media report.

While security along MSR-I has gradually improved and small convoys carrying commercial and humanitarian goods have begun to reach Bangui, resumption of regular traffic will likely take months, as hundreds of trucks carrying relief commodities and commercial goods have been stuck at the Cameroon-CAR border since mid-December. Moving forward, relief actors are considering alternate supply routes to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into CAR during periods of heightened insecurity.

The intensified violence in CAR exacerbated civilian protection risks across the country, including sexual violence, familial separation, and other protection violations. MINUSCA documented at least 24 incidents of violence against civilians—including attacks on hospitals and schools, gender-based violence (GBV), and kidnapping—affecting at least 32 individuals across the country from February 16 to 22, compared to 17 incidents affecting at least 32 victims between February 9 and 15. In response to heightened civilian protection risks, U.S. Government (USG) partners continue to provide psychosocial support and other protection services to GBV survivors and conflict-affected communities. The recent violence in CAR has also adversely affected relief operations within the country. OCHA documented 66 security incidents—primarily burglaries, looting, and robberies of humanitarian commodities, equipment or facilities—affecting aid workers in January, representing the highest number of reported security incidents ever recorded in CAR. Although the number of reported security incidents affecting humanitarian aid workers declined to 49 reported cases in February, the UN agency maintains that relief actors operating in CAR continue to face heightened security risks. To ensure the safety of their staff, relief actors remain in regular contact with the UN Department of Safety and Security and other sources of humanitarian safety information to receive up-to-date information on local security risks.

US Ambassador Hammer and USAID staff—including Mission Director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Paul Sabatine—participated in a joint delegation comprising diplomatic and UN officials that visited the Inke refugee camp and nearby host communities in the DRC’s Nord-Ubangi Province from February 18 to 19 to assess the humanitarian needs of newly arrived Central African refugees in northern DRC. During the visit, the delegation participated in a question-and-answer session with the refugees, who requested an increase in the amount of cash-based food assistance and livelihoods support, as well as greater protection and sanitation services.

In addition to the 725,000 citizens displaced within CAR, insecurity and intensified armed conflict prompted more than 109,000 individuals to seek refuge in neighboring Cameroon, Chad, the DRC, and the Republic of the Congo (RoC) from mid-December to late February, according to UNHCR. As of late February, more than 1.5 million people—approximately one-third of the country’s population—had fled their communities of origin in CAR due to the ongoing armed conflict, including 1.3 million people displaced prior to mid-December. The USG continues to work with host nation governments and relief actors to provide life-saving assistance to displaced persons in CAR, as well as Central African refugees in neighboring countries.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recommended an increase of nearly 3,700 soldiers and police to bolster the UN peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic (CAR), saying the conflict-torn country is at “a critical juncture”. The UN chief said in a report obtained 17 February 2021 by The Associated Press that 2,750 military reinforcements and 940 additional police are needed to help the peacekeeping mission known as MINUSCA prevent “further deterioration in the security situation while creating space for the political process to advance”.

Central African Republic government troops liberated 27 key cities in the country with the support of Russian instructors, declared the Russian ambassador in Bangui, Vladimir Titorenko on 10 March 2021. "In three weeks of fighting against the opposition Coalition of Patriots for Change (CPC), led by former President Francois Bozizé, which was joined by the armed groups UPC, MPC, 3R and Anti-Balaka, government troops managed to both unlock the capital, Bangui, how to liberate 27 key cities in the west and in the central part of the country with the help of Russian instructors, "he said.

According to the diplomat, the Cameroon-Bangui highway, the one being protected by the military, has begun to function normally, in the west and center of the country life is returning to normal. "After the liberation of the city of Paua in the northwest of the country, it became obvious that it only remains to defeat the remnants of the rebels entrenched in the north of the city of Kaga-Bandoro, and start advancing towards the border with Sudan (.. When this part of the military operation prepared by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic with the help of Russian instructors and the Rwandan military is considered completed, the entire border with Chad and Sudan will be seen under the control of government troops, "added the ambassador.