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Central African Republic

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: African Countries;
Countries

   SOS Children works in the Central African Republic. For more
   information see SOS Children in Central African Republic, Africa
   République Centrafricaine
   Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka
   Central African Republic

   Flag of Central African Republic Image:Central African coa.png
   Flag                             Emblem
   Motto: Unité, Dignité, Travail  (French)
   "Unity, Dignity, Work"
   Anthem: " La Renaissance" (French)
   "E Zingo" ( Sango)
   Location of Central African Republic
   Capital
   (and largest city) Bangui
   4°22′N 18°35′E
   Official languages Sango, French
   Government Republic
    - President François Bozizé
    - Prime Minister Élie Doté
   Independence from France
    - Date August 13, 1960
   Area
    - Total 622,984 km² ( 43rd)
   240,534 sq mi
    - Water (%) 0
   Population
    - 2005 estimate 4,038,000 ( 123rd)
    - 2003 census 3,032,926
    - Density 6.5/km² ( 213th)
   16.8/sq mi
   GDP ( PPP) 2005 estimate
    - Total $4.63 billion ( 153rd)
    - Per capita $1,128 ( 167th)
   HDI  (2004) 0.353 (low) ( 172nd)
   Currency CFA franc ( XAF)
   Time zone WAT ( UTC+1)
    - Summer ( DST) not observed ( UTC+1)
   Internet TLD .cf
   Calling code +221

   The Central African Republic (French: République Centrafricaine IPA:
   /ʀepyblik sɑ̃tʀafʀikɛn/ or Centrafrique /sɑ̃tʀafʀik/) is a landlocked
   country in central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan on the
   east, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the
   Congo on the south, and Cameroon on the west. Most of the CAR consists
   of Sudano-Guinean savannas but it also includes a Sahelo-Sudanese zone
   in the north and an Equatorial forest zone in the south. Two thirds of
   the country lies in the basins of the Ubangi river, which flows south
   into the Congo River, while the remaining third lies in the basin of
   the Shari river, which flows north into Lake Chad. Since most of the
   territory is located in the Ubangi and Shari river basins, the French
   called the colony it carved out in this region Ubangi-Shari, or
   Oubangui-Chari in French. This French colony of Ubangi-Shari became a
   semi-autonomous territory of the French Community in 1958 and then an
   independent nation on 13 August 1960. For over three decades since
   independence the CAR was ruled by presidents who were not chosen in
   truly democratic elections or who took power by force. Local discontent
   was eventually reinforced by international pressure, following the end
   of the cold war. The first fair democratic elections were held in 1993
   with resources provided by the country's donors and help from the UN
   Office for Electoral Affairs. They brought Ange-Félix Patassé to power,
   but President Patassé lost popular support and was overthrown by
   General François Bozizé in 2003. General Bozizé won a democratic
   election in May 2005 and remains in power today. The Central African
   Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world and among the ten
   poorest countries in Africa.

History

Pre-history

   Between about 1000 BCE and 1000 CE, Adamawa-Eastern-speaking peoples
   spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan and settled in most of the
   territory of the CAR. During the same period, a much smaller number of
   Bantu-speaking immigrants settled in southwestern CAR and some Central
   Sudanic-speaking populations settled along the USA. The majority of the
   CAR's inhabitants thus speak Adamawa-Eastern languages or Bantu
   languages belonging to the Niger-Congo family. A minority speak Central
   Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharan family. More recent immigrants
   include many Muslim merchants who most often speak Arabic or Hausa.

Exposure to the outside world

   Until the early 1800s, the peoples of the CAR lived beyond the
   expanding Islamic frontier in the Sudanic zone of Africa and thus had
   relatively little contact with Abrahamic religions or northern
   economies. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, however,
   Muslim traders began increasingly to penetrate the region of the CAR
   and to cultivate special relations with local leaders in order to
   facilitate their trade and settlement in the region. The initial
   arrival of Muslim traders in the early 1800s was relatively peaceful
   and depended upon the support of local peoples, but after about 1850,
   slave traders with well-armed soldiers began to penetrate the region.
   Between c. 1860 and 1910, slave traders from Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Dar
   al-Kuti in northern CAR and Nzakara and Zande states in southeastern
   CAR exported much of the population of eastern CAR, a region with very
   few inhabitants today.

French colonialism

   European penetration of Central African territory began in the late
   nineteenth century during the so-called Scramble for Africa (c.
   1875-1900). Count Savorgnan de Brazza took the lead in establishing the
   French Congo with headquarters in the city named after him,
   Brazzaville, and sent expeditions up the Ubangi river in an effort to
   expand France's claims to territory in Central Africa. King Leopold II
   of Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom also competed to establish
   their claims to territory in the Central African region. In 1889 the
   French established a post on the Ubangi river at Bangui, the future
   capital of Ubangi-Shari and the CAR. De Brazza then sent expeditions in
   1890-91 up the Sangha River in what is now southwestern CAR, up the
   centre of the Ubangi basin toward Lake Chad, and eastward along the
   Ubangi river toward the Nile. De Brazza and the procolonial in France
   wished to expand the borders of the French Congo to link up with French
   territories in West Africa, North Africa and East Africa. In 1894, the
   French Congo's borders with Leopold II's Congo Free State and German
   Cameroon were fixed by diplomatic agreements. Then, in 1899, the French
   Congo's border with Sudan was fixed along the Congo-Nile watershed,
   leaving France without her much coveted outlet on the Nile and turning
   southeastern Ubangi-Shari into a cul-de-sac.

   Once European negotiators agreed upon the borders of the French Congo,
   France had to decide how to pay for the costly occupation,
   administration, and development of the territory. The reported
   financial successes of Leopold II's concessionary companies in the
   Congo Free State convinced the French government in 1899 to grant 17
   private companies large concessions in the Ubangi-Shari region. In
   return for the right to exploit these lands by buying local products
   and selling European goods, the companies promised to pay rent to the
   colonial state and to promote the development of their concessions. The
   companies employed European and African agents who frequently used
   extremely brutal and atrocious methods to force Central Africans to
   work for them. At the same time, the French colonial administration
   began to force Central Africans to pay taxes and to provide the state
   with free labor. The companies and French administration often
   collaborated in their efforts to force Central Africans to work for
   their benefit, but they also often found themselves at odds. Some
   French officials reported abuses committed by private company militias
   and even by their own colonial colleagues and troops, but efforts to
   bring these criminals to justice almost always failed. When news of
   terrible atrocities committed against Central Africans by concessionary
   company employees and colonial officials or troops reached France and
   caused an outcry, there were investigations and some feeble attempts at
   reform, but the situation on the ground in Ubangi-Shari remained
   essentially the same.

   In the meantime, during the first decade of French colonial rule (c.
   1900- 1910), the rulers of African states in the Ubangi-Shari region
   increased their slave raiding activities and also their sale of local
   products to European companies and the colonial state. They took
   advantage of their treaties with the French to procure more weapons
   which were used to capture more slaves and so much of the eastern half
   of Ubangi-Shari was depopulated as a result of the export of Central
   Africans by local rulers during the first decade of colonial rule.
   Those who had power, Africans and Europeans, often made life miserable
   for those who did not have the power to resist.

   During the second decade of French colonial rule (c. 1910- 1920), armed
   employees of private companies and the colonial state continued to use
   brutal methods to deal with local populations who resisted forced labor
   but the power of local African rulers was destroyed and so slave
   raiding was greatly diminished. In 1911, the Sangha and Lobaye basins
   were ceded to Germany as part of an agreement which gave France a
   free-hand in Morocco and so western Ubangi-Shari came under German rule
   until World War I, during which France reconquered this territory by
   using Central African troops.

   The third decade of French colonial rule (1920- 1930) was a period of
   transition during which a network of roads was built, cash crops were
   promoted, mobile health services were formed to combat sleeping
   sickness, and Protestant missions established stations in different
   parts of the country. New forms of forced labor were also introduced,
   however, as the French conscripted large numbers of Ubangians to work
   on the Congo-Ocean Railway and many of these recruits died of
   exhaustion and illness. In 1925 the French writer André Gide published
   Voyage au Congo in which he described the alarming consequences of
   conscription for the Congo-Ocean railroad and exposed the continuing
   atrocities committed against Central Africans in western Ubangi-Shari
   by employees of the Forestry Company of Sangha-Ubangi, for example. In
   1928 a major insurrection, the Kongo-Wara 'war of the hoe handle' broke
   out in western Ubangi-Shari and continued for several years. The extent
   of this insurrection, perhaps the largest anticolonial rebellion in
   Africa during the interwar years, was carefully hidden from the French
   public because it provided evidence, once again, of strong opposition
   to French colonial rule and forced labor.

   During the fourth decade of colonial rule (c. 1930- 1940), cotton, tea,
   and coffee emerged as important cash crops in Ubangi-Shari and the
   mining of diamonds and gold began in earnest. Several cotton companies
   were granted purchasing monopolies over large areas of cotton
   production and were thus able to fix the prices paid to cultivators in
   order to assure profits for their shareholders. Europeans established
   coffee plantations and Central Africans also began to cultivate coffee.

   The fifth decade of colonial rule (c. 1940- 1950) was shaped by the
   Second World War and the political reforms which followed in its wake.
   In September 1940 pro-Gaullist French officers took control of
   Ubangi-Shari.

Independence

   On 1 December 1958 the colony of Ubangi-Shari became an autonomous
   territory within the French Community and took the name Central African
   Republic. The founding father and president of the "Conseil de
   Gouvernement," Barthélémy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident
   in 1959, just eight days before the last elections of the colonial era.
   On 13 August 1960 the Central African Republic gained its independence
   and two of Boganda's closest aides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, became
   involved in a power struggle. With the backing of the French, Dacko
   took power and soon had Goumba arrested. By 1962 President Dacko had
   established a one-party state.

   On 31 December 1965 Dacko was overthrown by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa,
   who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly.
   President Bokassa declared himself President for life in 1972, and
   named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on 4
   December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a
   lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world.
   In 1979 France carried out a coup against Bokassa and "restored" Dacko
   to power. Dacko, in turn, was overthrown in a coup by General André
   Kolingba on 1 September 1981.

   Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta
   until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in 1986 which was adopted
   by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, the
   Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC) was voluntary. In 1987,
   semi-competitive elections to parliament were held and municipal
   elections were held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents,
   Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, boycotted these elections because
   their parties were not allowed to compete.

   By 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement
   became very active. In May 1990 a letter signed by 253 prominent
   citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference but
   Kolingba refused this request and detained several opponents. Pressure
   from the United States, more reluctantly, from France, and from a group
   of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France,
   USA, Germany, Japan, EU, World Bank and UN) finally led Kolingba to
   agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992, with help
   from the UN Office of Electoral Assistance. After using the excuse of
   alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the elections as a
   pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under intense
   pressure from GIBAFOR to establish a "Conseil National Politique
   Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council)
   (CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission" which included
   representatives from all political parties.

   When elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the
   international community, Ange-Félix Patassé came in first in the first
   round and Kolingba came in fourth after Abel Goumba and David Dacko. In
   the second round, Patassé won 52.5 percent of the vote while Goumba won
   45.6 percent. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya, Kare and Kaba
   voters in seven heavily-populated prefectures in the northwest while
   Goumba's support came largely from ten less-populated prefectures in
   the south and east. Furthermore, Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la
   Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the
   Liberation of the Central African People gained a simple but not an
   absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé needed
   coalition partners.

   Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of his military rank of
   general in March of 1994 and then charged several former ministers with
   various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important,
   lucrative posts in the government. Two hundred mostly Yakoma members of
   the presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned to the army.
   Kolingba's RDC loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was
   conducting a "witch hunt" against the Yakoma.

   A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 and promulgated on
   14 January 1995, but this constitution, like those before it, did not
   have much impact on the practice of politics. In 1996-1997, reflecting
   steadily decreasing public confidence in its erratic behaviour, three
   mutinies against Patassé's government were accompanied by widespread
   destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January
   1997, the Bangui Peace Accords were signed which provided for the
   deployment of an inter-African military mission, the Mission
   Interafricaine de Surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB). Mali's
   former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief mediator and brokered
   the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The
   MISAB mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force, the
   Mission des Nations Unis en RCA (MINURCA).

   In 1998 parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba' RDC winning 20
   out of 109 seats, which constituted a comeback, but in 1999,
   notwithstanding widespread public anger in urban centers with his
   corrupt rule, Patassé won free elections to become president for a
   second term. On 28 May 2001 rebels stormed stategic buildings in Bangui
   in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou,
   and General Francois N'Djadder Bedaya were shot, but Patassé regained
   the upper hand by bringing in at least 300 troops of the rebel leader
   Jean-Pierre Bemba from over the river in the Democratic Republic of the
   Congo and by Libyan soldiers.

   In the aftermath of this failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought
   revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of the capital, Bangui,
   that resulted the destruction of many homes as well as the torture and
   murder of many opponents. Eventually Patassé came to suspect that
   General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against
   him and so Bozizé fled with loyal troops to Chad. On 25 October 2002
   Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the
   country. Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese
   rebel organization failed to stop the rebels, who took control of the
   country and thus succeeded in overthrowing Patassé.

   François Bozizé suspended the constitution and named a new cabinet
   which included most opposition parties. Abel Goumba, "Mr. Clean", was
   named vice-president, which gave Bozizé's new government a positive
   image. Bozizé established a broad-based National Transition Council to
   draft a new constitution and announced that he would step down and run
   for office once the new constitution was approved. A national dialogue
   was held from 15 September to 27 October 2003, and Bozizé won a fair
   election that excluded Patassé, to be elected president on a second
   ballot, in May 2005.

Politics

   The country is currently under the rule of François Bozizé. A new
   constitution was approved by voters in a referendum held on December 5,
   2004. Full multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections were
   held in March 2005, with a second round in May. Bozizé was declared the
   winner after a run off vote .

   In February 2006, there were reports of widespread violence in the
   northern part of the CAR. Thousands of refugees fled their homes,
   caught in the crossfire of battles between government troops and rebel
   forces. More than 7,000 people fled to neighboring Chad. Those who
   remained in the CAR told of government troops systematically killing
   men and boys suspected of cooperating with rebels.

Administrative divisions

   The Central African Republic is divided into 14 administrative
   prefectures (préfectures), along with 2 economic prefectures
   (préfectures economique) and one autonomous commune. The prefectures
   are further divided into 71 sub-prefectures (sous-préfectures).

   The prefectures include: Bamingui-Bangoran, Basse-Kotto, Haute-Kotto,
   Haut-Mbomou, Kémo, Lobaye, Mambéré-Kadéï, Mbomou, Nana-Mambéré,
   Ombella-M'Poko, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pendé, and Vakaga; the two economic
   prefectures are Nana-Grébizi and Sangha-Mbaéré; the commune is Bangui.

   Sub-prefectures: see Sub-prefectures of the Central African Republic.

Geography

   Satellite image of Central African Republic, generated from raster
   graphics data supplied by The Map Library
   Enlarge
   Satellite image of Central African Republic, generated from raster
   graphics data supplied by The Map Library
   Map of the Central African Republic
   Enlarge
   Map of the Central African Republic

   The Central African Republic is an entirely land-locked nation within
   the interior of the African continent. Much of the country consists of
   flat, or rolling plateau savanna, typically about 1,640  feet (500 m)
   above sea level. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills, and there are
   scattered hills in southwest part of the country. To the northwest is
   the Yade Massif, a granite plateau with an altitude of 3,750 feet
   (1,143 m).

   At 240,519 mi² (622,984 km²), the Central African Republic is the
   world's 43rd-largest country (after Somalia). It is comparable in size
   to Ukraine, and is somewhat smaller than the US state of Texas.

   Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo
   River, with the Mbomou River in the east merging with the Uele River to
   form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part
   of the country. The eastern border lies along the edge of the Nile
   river watershed.

   Estimates of the amount of the country covered by forest ranges up to
   75%, with the densest parts in the south. The forest is highly diverse,
   and includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli and Sipo.
   The current deforestation rate is 0.4% per annum, and lumber poaching
   is commonplace.

   The climate of the C.A.R. is generally tropical. The northern areas are
   subject to harmattan winds, which are hot, dry, and carry dust. The
   northern regions have been subject to desertification, and the
   northeast is desert. The remainder of the country is prone to flooding
   from nearby rivers.

Economy

   The economy of the CAR is dominated by the cultivation and sale of
   foodcrops such as cassava, peanuts, maize, sorghum, millet, sesame and
   plantains. The importance of foodcrops over exported cash crops is
   indicated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple
   food of most Central Africans, ranges between 200,000 and 300,000 tons
   a year, while the production of cotton, the principal exported cash
   crop, ranges from 25,000 to 45,000 tons a year. Foodcrops are not
   exported in large quantities but they still constitute the principal
   cash crops of the country because Central Africans derive far more
   income from the periodic sale of surplus foodcrops than from exported
   cash crops such as cotton or coffee. Many rural and urban women also
   transform some foodcrops into alcoholic drinks such as sorghum beer or
   hard liquor and derive considerable income from the sale of these
   drinks. Much of the income derived from the sale of foods and alcohol
   is not "on the books" and thus is not considered in calculating per
   capita income, which is one reason why official figures for per capita
   income are not accurate in the case of the CAR. The per capita income
   of the CAR is often listed as being around $300 a year, said to be one
   of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on reported
   sales of exports and largely ignores the more important but
   unregistered sale of foods, locally-produced alcohol, diamonds, ivory,
   bushmeat, and traditional medicines, for example. The informal economy
   of the CAR is more important than the formal economy for most Central
   Africans.

   Diamonds constitute the most important export of the CAR, frequently
   accounting for 40-55% of export revenues, but an estimated 30-50% of
   the diamonds produced each year leave the country clandestinely.

   The CAR is heavily dependent upon multilateral foreign aid and the
   presence of numerous NGO's which provide numerous services which the
   government fails to provide. As one UNDP official put it, the CAR is a
   country "sous serum," or a country hooked up to an IV. (Mehler
   2005:150) The very presence of numerous foreign personnel and
   organizations in the country, including peacekeepers and even refugee
   camps, provides an important source of revenue for many Central
   Africans.

   The country is self-sufficient in food crops, but much of the
   population lives at a subsistence level. Livestock development is
   hindered by the presence of the tsetse fly.

   Export trade is hindered by poor economic development, and the location
   of this country far from the coast.

   The natural wilderness regions of this country had good potential as
   ecotourist destinations. The country is noted for its population of
   forest elephants. In the southwest, the Dzanga-Sangha National Park is
   a rain forest area. To the north, the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National
   Park has been well-populated with wildlife, including leopards, lions,
   and rhinos. To the northeast the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park.
   However the population of wildlife in these parks has severely
   diminished over the past 20 years due to poaching, particularly from
   the neighboring Sudan.

Demographics

   The population has tripled since independence. In 1960 the population
   was 1,232,000. The current population is at 4,303,356.(Note: estimates
   for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess
   mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher
   infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates,
   and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would
   otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) )

   The nation is divided into over 80 ethnic groups, each having its own
   language. The largest ethnic groups are the Baya 33%, Banda 27%,
   Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, Mboum 7%, M'Baka 4%, and Yakoma 4%, with 2%
   others, including Europeans. Of the religions, 35% are indigenous
   beliefs, 25% Protestant, 25% Roman Catholic, and 15% Muslim.

Culture

   See also:
     * List of writers from the Central African Republic
     * Music of the Central African Republic
     * Public holidays in the Central African Republic

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