Crisis-hit CAR now tottering on the brink of a failed State

What you need to know:

  • In the meantime, current reports from the chaotic country indicate serious indiscipline among the Seleka coalition of armed groups that took power in March. According to aid workers, their most despicable acts have been the looting the healthcare system and the robbing of hapless civilians.
  • The rebels have also been accused of pillaging government offices, schools, churches, homes, businesses and humanitarian
    organisations”
  • Not surprisingly, the deteriorating situation in the Central African Republic has prodded the UN to caution that the chaotic country could any time now become a failed state further threatening an already volatile region.

Violence seems to have become a practically perpetual feature of many African states, particularly those with a history of coup-making and military rule, and the Central African Republic is a tragic case in point.

Even more disturbing, the long-troubled nation is surrounded by equally unstable countries. These countries include the two Sudans to the east and north-east, DR Congo and Republic of Congo to the south.

Other neighbours are Cameroon to the west and Chad to the north. These countries make up a wide swathe of nations extending into West and North Africa that have over the decades become notorious for military coups.

Many of the countries in the region have also become citadels of shameless dictatorships and massive state corruption and impunity. Often tottering on the brink of total anarchy, they have become pariahs within the community of nations.

A common denominator in the troubled states has been gross human rights abuses that have accompanied the chaos that characterise them, even as their civilian populations pay the price of blatant misrule.

POWER STRUGGLE

Often forced to seek refuge outside their countries of birth, such populations have become a common feature on the continent. So, too, have the high fatality figures that inevitably result from the endless struggles for power in the most unstable countries.

In Central African Republic, for example, at least 60 people were last week reported to have been killed in the fighting raging to the north-west of the capital, Bangui.

Amidst the cyclic violence, about a third of the country’s 4.6 million people reportedly need assistance with food, shelter, healthcare and water. Ironically, the CAR has huge deposits of minerals such as gold and diamond.

The country has, however, been plagued by chronic instability since independence in 1960. Over the decades, national resources have been looted by regimes or blown up in such wasteful activities as the rather asinine coronation of the late dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa, whose legacy has been one of the worst in Africa.

As for the most recent killings, they reportedly took place barely a month after former rebel leader Michel Djotodia was sworn in as president after his forces ousted former head of state François Bozizé in March.

Mr Bozizé is currently in France after initially fleeing to Cameroon when Seleka fighters seized Bangui.

Like many African rulers who rise to power through the barrel of a gun, Mr Djotodia has promised to relinquish power after elections scheduled for 2016. Whether he will keep his promise is a moot point.

DESPICABLE ACTS

In the meantime, current reports from the chaotic country indicate serious indiscipline among the Seleka coalition of armed groups that took power in March.

According to aid workers, their most despicable acts have been the looting the healthcare system and the robbing of hapless civilians.

The rebels have also been accused of pillaging government offices, schools, churches, homes, businesses and humanitarian organisations. Church leaders have also accused their leadership of undertaking a deliberate campaign of Islamisation.

As for Mr Djotodia’s predecessor Bozizé, he was notorious for trying to create a family dynasty in CAR.

According to media reports, his wife was a member of parliament, and would probably have been promoted to a minister if Bozizé had been allowed more time in power.

His son Francis was minister of Defence, while yet another son— commonly known as Jojo— was head of the paramilitary police. This latter Bozizé offspring allegedly had a reputation for torturing those he perceived to be opposed to his family’s hegemony.

A number of Bozizé’s nephews and cousins also occupied key positions in the government. Clearly, the former president planned to leave a firm family legacy in the unstable country he, and his kin and kith presided over.

As matters deteriorated, however, the African Union (AU) and its predecessor OAU were forced to intervene, but reportedly failed abysmally.

In January 1997, for instance, OAU established a peacekeeping force known as the International Support Mission in Central Africa (MISAB) to oversee disarmament of mutinous soldiers and private militia. It however did not achieve its main goal and was dissolved in April 1998.

Now the onus of maintaining order in CAR has fallen on a new African Union force known as International Support Mission in Central Africa (MISCA), whose main task is to protect civilians and humanitarian workers.

The AU force is also expected to ensure security in the lead up to elections expected to be held within 18 months. In the meantime, forces loyal to Mr Bozizé are said to have taken at least one town since they began their attacks last week.

Mr Bozizé was himself a seasoned coup-maker who ousted ex-President Ange Felix Patasse, whom he toppled in a 2003 coup after serving him for years as army Chief of Staff.

Not surprisingly, the deteriorating situation in the Central African Republic has prodded the UN to caution that the chaotic country could any time now become a failed state further threatening an already volatile region.