Mapping Conflict Motives: The Central African Republic Yannick Weyns, Lotte Hoex, Filip Hilgert and Steven Spittaels



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November 2014

Editorial Mapping Conflict Motives: the Central African Republic

Authors: Yannick Weyns, Lotte Hoex, Filip Hilgert & Steven Spittaels Map production: Filip Hilgert, Alexandre Jailon, Yannick Weyns & Stef Verheijen (web mapping) Main author and researcher chapter 4.1 and 4.2: Claudio Gramizzi, Senior Field Investigator at Conflict Armament Research Editing: Fiona Southward Layout: Anne Hullebroeck Front Cover image: Bangui (IPIS 2014). French captions: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; The Central African Republic our country, the national interest first! Antwerp, November 2014 Acknowledgments: The research for and production of this report has been supported by the World Bank.

Our sincere thanks go to all individuals who have contributed to this study, first and foremost all interviewees and organisations in the Central African Republic, Chad and Cameroon who offered their knowledge, shared their views and provided logistical support. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to OCHA, the BINUCA/MINUSCA mission and the Danish Refugee Council. Finally, the authors are grateful for the contributions of Conflict Armament Research, who undertook an analysis of the weapons and military equipment under Seleka custody. The specific data will be included in their iTrace database (https://itrace.conflictarm.com/). International Peace Information Service (IPIS) is an independent research institute, providing governmental and non-governmental actors with information and analysis to build sustainable peace and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our research is centred around four programmes: Natural Resources, Business & Human Rights, Arms Trade & Security, and Conflict Mapping.

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Report highlights Given the depth and length of this report, we would like to direct readers with limited time to some of the key sections of the report. The subsections listed below provide crucial analysis of the Seleka and anti-balaka conflict motives, foreign influences on the conflict as well as information that has thus far received limited attention in the press or in other research reports. •

Subsection 1.1.1 contains an overview of the Central African armed groups that were created after 2003 and played a role in the formation of the Seleka alliance.

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Subsection 1.1.3 describes recent political developments regarding the Seleka, including the split within the movement.

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Subsection 1.3.1 discusses Seleka political grievances, including religious grievances (p. 24-26).

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Subsection 1.3.2 analyses Seleka greed motives, with a detailed overview of the forms of control exerted by the movement in mineral mines (p. 29-34) and examples of how the Seleka leadership has used government positions for personal enrichment (p. 36-37).

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Subsection 2.1.3 describes how the anti-balaka movement is structured in the west of the country and in the capital, including leadership division.

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Subsection 2.3.2 analyses how deep-rooted socio-economic tensions have motivated anti-balaka fighters to commit sectarian violence.

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Subsection 2.3.4 discusses the role greed has played for anti-balaka groups, providing a detailed overview of anti-balaka control over mineral mines in the west of the country (p. 58-60).

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Subsection 3.1.1 describes the type of military and political support provided by Chad to the Seleka movement.

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Subsections 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 describe why Sudan supported the Seleka movement and what kind of support the Seleka has received from Sudan.

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Table of Contents List of acronyms 6 Introduction 8 Background 8 Overview 9 Web map 9 Map legend 11 1. The Sel