A UN commission called it ethnic cleansing. It happened to hundreds of thousands of Muslims in a country most of the world couldn't place on a map.
A state France never really let stand on its own
The Central African Republic won independence from France in 1960, but has known only about a decade of genuinely civilian government since, a cycle of coups, several with direct French military involvement.
2013: Seleka’s rise, and what followed it
In March 2013, a coalition of mostly Muslim rebel groups from the country’s marginalized north, calling themselves Seleka, swept into the capital Bangui and overthrew President François Bozizé. Seleka’s rule, and the abuses committed by its fighters, are documented facts that a UN commission later found amounted to war crimes.
The reprisal, and who it was actually aimed at
Christian and animist militias calling themselves anti-balaka formed in response, and once Seleka’s leadership was forced from power, anti-balaka fighters turned on ordinary Muslim civilians, most of whom had no connection to Seleka’s rule. A UN commission concluded that anti-balaka had carried out the ethnic cleansing of the country’s Muslim population, with a stated goal to rid the country of Muslims permanently. Entire Muslim communities in the west and south were killed, driven out, or forced to flee.
A slow, underreported response
French troops deployed in December 2013, and UN peacekeepers followed through 2014, but both were widely criticized as slow to protect Muslim civilians. Estimates put the dead at 6,000 or more, with some 400,000 displaced.
A war that’s still barely covered
CAR’s Muslim population has never returned to its pre-2013 numbers or geography in large parts of the country.
Timeline
- 1960 — Independence
- 2013 — Seleka takes Bangui
- 2013 — Anti-balaka ethnic cleansing begins
- 2014 — French/UN peacekeeping deployment
Key Locations
Bangui, Bossangoa