Monday, December 24, 2012

Country Profiles: Central African Republic

Central African Republic is located in Africa.
The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960. After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade. President Ange-Felix PATASSE's civilian government was plagued by unrest, and in March 2003 he was deposed in a military coup led by General Francois BOZIZE, who established a transitional government. Though the government has the tacit support of civil society groups and the main parties, a wide field of candidates contested the municipal, legislative, and presidential elections held in March and May of 2005 in which General BOZIZE was affirmed as president. BOZIZE was reelected in the 2011 elections, which were widely viewed as having gross inaccuracies and discrepancies. The government still does not fully control the countryside, where pockets of lawlessness persist. Militant group Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continues to affect stability in the Central African Republic as well.
CIA World Factbook
With an area of 622,984 sq km, it is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas.

Central African Republic shares a border with Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan. It is mostly vast, flat to rolling, monotonous plateau with scattered hills in northeast and southwest.



People who live in Central African Republic are called Central Africans, which is also an adjective used to describe something from this country. As of July 2012, there are 5,057,208 people in Central African Republic. The ethnic groups that reside in the Central African Republic are mostly Baya (33%) and Banda (27%) with some Mandjia (13%), Sara (10%), Mboum (7%), M'Baka (4%), and Yakoma (4%). While French is the official language, Sangho and other tribal languages are also spoken there. Indigenous beliefs make up 35% of the population, while Protestants (25%), Roman Catholics (25%), and Muslims (15%) make up the rest.

The country's local long name is Republique Centrafricaine. The capital is Bangui, and the country is made up of 14 prefectures and 2 economic prefectures. Though Central African Republic gained independence from the the French on August 13, 1960, a constitution was not adopted until December 28, 1994. The constitution can be found here through Constitution Finder. The current president is Francois Bozize. Information about the leaders of Central African Republic's government can be found here. The currency is the Cooperation Financiere en Afrique Centrale francs (abbreviated XAF), which stands at 471.87 XAF per USD as of 2011.



All of this information was gathered from the CIA World Factbook. For more information, check out these resources...

Central African Republic, CIA World Factbook

Background Notes: Central African Republic, U.S. Department of State

2011 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Central African Republic, U.S. Department of State.

You can also check out the Country Studies tab on our Fed Docs libguide here for more resources on all of the countries.


Sonnet Ireland
Head of Federal Documents
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Subject Specialist: Legal Research
Planning and Urban Studies
Political Science

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