What’s happening?

At the invitation of Christian and Muslim faith leaders in the Central African Republic, the Aegis Trust visited CAR in 2014 to meet with community leaders and Government ministers – including interim President Catherine Samba Panza – to explore ways in which lessons from Rwanda could be applied to strengthen peacebuilding and the restoration of social cohesion in the country. Over 5,000 civilians had been killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes as a result of violence involving the mainly Muslim Seleka and Christian ‘Anti-Balaka’ militias.

In 2015, Aegis brought the testimony of Rwandan genocide survivors to the Bangui Forum for National Reconciliation, which involved the government and leadership from a wide range of stakeholders across CAR. As part of a peacebuilding partnership in CAR which includes Catholic Relief Services (CRS), World Vision and Islamic Relief, Aegis’ focus in CAR is now firmly on peace-building education.

The Bokassa era

The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the poorest countries in the World and has been unstable since independence from France in 1960. It has endured several coups and a notorious period under a self-declared emperor, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who headed a brutal regime.

Continued instability

In 1979, Jean-Bedel Bokassa was overthrown in a coup led by David Dacko and backed by French commandos based in the country. Decades of political instability followed, culminating in riots and looting in 1997 by unpaid soldiers. When in that year the French pulled out, there were fears of a power vacuum, so Paris financed a group of French-speaking African countries to create a peacekeeping force. That force was then transformed into the UN Mission to the Central African Republic, or Minurca.

Seleka vs Anti-Balaka

Some progress towards stabilising the country was made between 2008 and 2012, before the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance marched south and captured the capital in March 2013, ousting President Francois Bozize. The country then descended into religious violence.
Executions, rape and looting by Seleka in the mainly Christian country drove tens of thousands from their homes and led to the formation of Christian self-defence militias – the ‘Anti-Balaka’ (meaning ‘anti-machete’) – which quickly moved from fighting back against the Seleka to conducting their own widespread attacks on CAR’s Muslim minority. Before 2014 was out, over 5,000 people had been killed and more than 850,000 remained displaced – with most of the country’s Muslims driven into exile as refugees.

The Central African Republic now

In 2014 the UN warned that there was a high risk of genocide in CAR. Approximately 4.1 million people, almost half of whom are children, have been directly affected by the crisis.
With security assistance from a UN peacekeeping mission, the transitional government of Catherine Samba-Panza set about trying to stabilise the situation.
In May 2015, the ‘Bangui Forum for National Reconciliation’ drew around 700 leaders from across the political, religious and social spectrum in CAR. The forum adopted several resolutions impressive in their scope. These included a new disarmament and demobilisation agreement, signed by the Seleka and Anti-Balaka with the transitional Government; the release of child soldiers by both militias (numbering up to 10,000, according to UN estimates); a revised timeline for elections; creation of a nationwide justice and reconciliation process; and identification of development priorities to try to kickstart the country’s wrecked economy. Within days of signing the agreement, hundreds of child soldiers were released by the militias as a token of their commitment to this new peace deal.

What’s Aegis doing?

In 2014 Aegis hosted a visit by faith leaders from the Central African Republic to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Aegis was invited to CAR soon afterwards. “The Aegis Trust has helped Rwanda to rise from the Ashes. We have seen the result: Rwandan youth have understood the past that led them into darkness,” says Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the Catholic Archbishop of Bangui.

Aegis’ East Africa Director, Freddy Mutanguha (centre, above) has been leading Aegis’ work with Government and faith leaders in CAR since the genocide prevention group was invited to the country. On his first visit, in 2014, he was shocked: “the look in people’s eyes reminded me of Kigali in 1994.”

In May 2015 Aegis led a delegation to the Bangui Forum from Kigali, to share some of the lessons which have informed its successful peacebuilding work in Rwanda. The delegation included Rwandan Muslim and Christian faith leaders; the former secretary of Rwanda’s National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, and genocide survivor Jean Giraneza – who moved his Central African audience with a story of extraordinary personal reconciliation.

Impressed by the effectiveness of the Aegis-led drive for peace education in Rwanda – which is now being incorporated into Rwanda’s national Schools Curriculum – Central African leaders want to see something similar implemented in their own country. Here, Interim President Samba-Panza meets with Aegis CEO Dr James Smith, Freddy Mutanguha and members of the Aegis team.

There are multiple threats to the potential for success in CAR, challenges to security being the most immediate. Right now though, there is a willingness from some surprising quarters on both sides of the conflict to contemplate reaching out to each other, and a spark of hope for a better future among Bangui’s divided communities.

Whether the World ignores and betrays the hope in CAR, or chooses to quickly support and carefully invest in it, may well be the key to a radically better or worse future for the country. Neither peace-building, nor economic development will be enough on their own – but together they could be transformative.

“There’s a group of dynamic young people working hard to build peace here,” says Aegis’ Kigali-based Youth Coordinator Marc Gwamaka. “We have started a small campaign called ‘Mbi yeke molengue ti be Afrika’ – ‘We are all sons of CAR’. These guys are excited because they have never done anything like this before.”

“[If no-one invests in peace building,] very simply it would leave the country in total chaos.”

Armel Sayo, CAR Minister for Youth, speaking to Aegis in 2014.
Sayo was kidnapped and held by militants in Bangui for several weeks in early 2015.

Invest in peace today

[/fusion_builder_container padding_right="30px" padding_left="30px" ]

How you can help

Take Action for CAR

Action for CAR is an international youth-led campaign supported by Aegis and STAND to help CAR through fundraising, education, advocacy and in-country social cohesion activities.

TAKE ACTION

Get involved

There are multiple ways that you can turn the hope for peace into a reality in the Central African Republic by helping Aegis transform lives. Take a look at what works best for you.

BE PART OF THE TEAM

Donate

Reconciliation requires support. Help to ensure that the glimmers of hope in the Central African Republic don’t go out. Donate to support the Aegis Trust’s work there today.

GIVE NOW TO SAVE LIVES