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There was an extraordinary press conference win Nairobi， Kenya， on the last day of January. A group of the Central Africans met to talk about peace efforts and it was a strange mix. Moustapha Saboune， a former member of the Central African Republic （CAR） militia Seleka， the Muslim-majority rebel alliance that overthrew the government in 2013， led other former militiamen. Members of Anti-balaka， the umbrella of Christian-majority vigilante groups resisting the Seleka， were also present.
It was the first time the two warring sides met since religious violence broke out in the country two years ago. The group announced to the world that they were ready to negotiate for peace.
Kenyan mediators led by former Speaker of Parliament Kenneth Marende and a retired senior army official， Lieutenant General Njuki Mwaniki， have been talking to the two sides since December after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to form a team of mediators on his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s request. Sassou-Nguesso is the international mediator on the crisis.
All stakeholders needed
Two weeks after the famed Nairobi press conference， the mediators announced a “breakthrough，” saying the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire. However， agreement has been officially signed nor a timeframe given for the next round of talks and the mediators were criticized for engaging only two sides in peace talks
in the complicated CAR conflict.“We know the Seleka and Anti-balaka as the main protagonists， but a conflict which exploits religious or ethnic divisions means we have to bring on board other actors： religious leaders， local leaders and even civil society，” said Macharia Munene， a Nairobi-based political scientist and commentator on regional issues.
“This is an amorphous conflict. It would be a mistake for mediators not to solicit support from key stakeholders if they want to resolve this conflict，” added Philip A. Kasaija， a political science professor at Uganda’s Makerere University， who has written extensively on conflicts in Africa’s Great Lakes region. “This also includes international actors such as the UN or even the French， who sent their troops there.”
Long-running conflict
The violence in the CAR can be traced back to 2003 when Francois Bozize， a former army chief， seized power while President Ange-Felix Patasse was away. Bozize’s reign， like his predecessor’s， was punctuated by civil war. Though a deal was reached in 2007 to keep Bozize in power， it was broken in 2012， when rebel groups argued the government was not keeping its part of the bargain. Bozize was ousted by the Seleka in March 2013 under its leader Michel Djotodia， who became the first Muslim president in a country where the majority is Christian. Following accusations that the rebels were targeting civilians， the new president announced in September 2013 that he had disbanded the Seleka. The move to claim legitimacy for his government was opposed by many Seleka militiamen who continued their murdering spree.
The brutality triggered the rise of the Christian Anti-balaka （or anti-sword） militia， most of whom supported Bozize. They started to target Muslims， killing and destroying property. Sassou-Nguesso’s request to Kenya led to the formation of the Nairobi CAR Peace Initiative. However， critics said it did not have the blessings of all parties concerned.
“Of course this conflict will require a more inclusive process to secure long-term peace. We are awake to that reality，” Marende told ChinAfrica. “But we are first doing the most logical thing， which is to bring the combatants together and to engage them in negotiations for a ceasefire. We have already achieved that.”
But according to humanitarian reports from CAR capital Bangui， disagreements on who should be part of the negotiations have negated an urgent solution. It is a consistent pattern in the CAR. In the 55 years of independence from French colonial rule， the country had had five coups， numerous coup attempts and continual civil strife.
Challenging times
The decades-old conflicts exploited the precarious ethnic and religious divisions in the country. But none reached the magnitude the CAR is seeing today. At least 6，000 Central Africans have been killed， and nearly 1 million of the 4.5-million population displaced. Half of them are scattered in Chad， Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated in its February bulletin that 2.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yet only 67 percent of the funding requirements for 2015 have been met. The UN agency says it will require at least $300 million to cater to the violence-hit.
The crisis goes beyond mere displacement. For example， last year the International Rescue Committee interviewed 125 women who had sought assistance. A staggering 84 percent said they had been raped or sexually abused.
Despite recent announcements that the violence is subsiding and the French troops deployed to maintain peace will be partially withdrawn， aid workers fear the situation could worsen. “Medecins Sans Frontieres’ （MSF） view is very different， particularly from a security and humanitarian perspective， and considers that the situation remains extremely serious，” states a crisis update by the MSF in Bangui. The humanitarian agency oversees 20 operational centers around the CAR. Since July， it has been treating victims of sexual violence at the Bangui General Hospital. At the start of January， it reported having attended to 485 sexual violence victims.
A UN commission of inquiry， while finding no proof of genocide， said earlier this year that the violence has resulted in gross violation of human rights， extrajudicial killings， sexual violence and religious persecution.
“Thousands of people died as a result of the conflict. Human rights violations and abuses were committed by all parties. The Seleka coalition and the Anti-balaka are also responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity，” the commission said after a year-long investigation. “Although the commission cannot conclude that there was genocide， ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population by the Anti-balaka constitutes a crime against humanity.”
At the height of the violence， the UN adopted three resolutions， the first of which allowed the deployment of French troops in the CAR. But despite the international involvement， the violence has not subsided.
“The violence in the CAR can be stopped only by the main actors. This ceasefire will be useful to everybody else involved. So we need to find a solution between the two stakeholders，” Albino Aboug， Sassou-Nguesso’s special envoy， told reporters in Nairobi in February.
The Seleka and Anti-balaka had signed a temporary ceasefire in Brazzaville in 2014 overseen by SassouNguesso. However， it was violated.
The world waits to see how the complicated - and tragic - CAR conflict unfolds.
It was the first time the two warring sides met since religious violence broke out in the country two years ago. The group announced to the world that they were ready to negotiate for peace.
Kenyan mediators led by former Speaker of Parliament Kenneth Marende and a retired senior army official， Lieutenant General Njuki Mwaniki， have been talking to the two sides since December after Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to form a team of mediators on his Congolese counterpart Denis Sassou-Nguesso’s request. Sassou-Nguesso is the international mediator on the crisis.
All stakeholders needed
Two weeks after the famed Nairobi press conference， the mediators announced a “breakthrough，” saying the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire. However， agreement has been officially signed nor a timeframe given for the next round of talks and the mediators were criticized for engaging only two sides in peace talks
in the complicated CAR conflict.“We know the Seleka and Anti-balaka as the main protagonists， but a conflict which exploits religious or ethnic divisions means we have to bring on board other actors： religious leaders， local leaders and even civil society，” said Macharia Munene， a Nairobi-based political scientist and commentator on regional issues.
“This is an amorphous conflict. It would be a mistake for mediators not to solicit support from key stakeholders if they want to resolve this conflict，” added Philip A. Kasaija， a political science professor at Uganda’s Makerere University， who has written extensively on conflicts in Africa’s Great Lakes region. “This also includes international actors such as the UN or even the French， who sent their troops there.”
Long-running conflict
The violence in the CAR can be traced back to 2003 when Francois Bozize， a former army chief， seized power while President Ange-Felix Patasse was away. Bozize’s reign， like his predecessor’s， was punctuated by civil war. Though a deal was reached in 2007 to keep Bozize in power， it was broken in 2012， when rebel groups argued the government was not keeping its part of the bargain. Bozize was ousted by the Seleka in March 2013 under its leader Michel Djotodia， who became the first Muslim president in a country where the majority is Christian. Following accusations that the rebels were targeting civilians， the new president announced in September 2013 that he had disbanded the Seleka. The move to claim legitimacy for his government was opposed by many Seleka militiamen who continued their murdering spree.
The brutality triggered the rise of the Christian Anti-balaka （or anti-sword） militia， most of whom supported Bozize. They started to target Muslims， killing and destroying property. Sassou-Nguesso’s request to Kenya led to the formation of the Nairobi CAR Peace Initiative. However， critics said it did not have the blessings of all parties concerned.
“Of course this conflict will require a more inclusive process to secure long-term peace. We are awake to that reality，” Marende told ChinAfrica. “But we are first doing the most logical thing， which is to bring the combatants together and to engage them in negotiations for a ceasefire. We have already achieved that.”
But according to humanitarian reports from CAR capital Bangui， disagreements on who should be part of the negotiations have negated an urgent solution. It is a consistent pattern in the CAR. In the 55 years of independence from French colonial rule， the country had had five coups， numerous coup attempts and continual civil strife.
Challenging times
The decades-old conflicts exploited the precarious ethnic and religious divisions in the country. But none reached the magnitude the CAR is seeing today. At least 6，000 Central Africans have been killed， and nearly 1 million of the 4.5-million population displaced. Half of them are scattered in Chad， Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated in its February bulletin that 2.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Yet only 67 percent of the funding requirements for 2015 have been met. The UN agency says it will require at least $300 million to cater to the violence-hit.
The crisis goes beyond mere displacement. For example， last year the International Rescue Committee interviewed 125 women who had sought assistance. A staggering 84 percent said they had been raped or sexually abused.
Despite recent announcements that the violence is subsiding and the French troops deployed to maintain peace will be partially withdrawn， aid workers fear the situation could worsen. “Medecins Sans Frontieres’ （MSF） view is very different， particularly from a security and humanitarian perspective， and considers that the situation remains extremely serious，” states a crisis update by the MSF in Bangui. The humanitarian agency oversees 20 operational centers around the CAR. Since July， it has been treating victims of sexual violence at the Bangui General Hospital. At the start of January， it reported having attended to 485 sexual violence victims.
A UN commission of inquiry， while finding no proof of genocide， said earlier this year that the violence has resulted in gross violation of human rights， extrajudicial killings， sexual violence and religious persecution.
“Thousands of people died as a result of the conflict. Human rights violations and abuses were committed by all parties. The Seleka coalition and the Anti-balaka are also responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity，” the commission said after a year-long investigation. “Although the commission cannot conclude that there was genocide， ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population by the Anti-balaka constitutes a crime against humanity.”
At the height of the violence， the UN adopted three resolutions， the first of which allowed the deployment of French troops in the CAR. But despite the international involvement， the violence has not subsided.
“The violence in the CAR can be stopped only by the main actors. This ceasefire will be useful to everybody else involved. So we need to find a solution between the two stakeholders，” Albino Aboug， Sassou-Nguesso’s special envoy， told reporters in Nairobi in February.
The Seleka and Anti-balaka had signed a temporary ceasefire in Brazzaville in 2014 overseen by SassouNguesso. However， it was violated.
The world waits to see how the complicated - and tragic - CAR conflict unfolds.