Russian Invasion of Central African Republic

There is an old African saying that when two brothers fight to the death it is the stranger that inherits the property.  One country in Africa which is symbolic of this saying is the Central African Republic (CAR) which has been engaged in a bloody war since 2014. First the war was about Christians against Muslims but it has seemingly taken another turn. Foreign countries such as Russia, France and the United States have different priorities.

The Central African Republic (CAR) was the former French colony which obtained its political independence from France in 1960. Even with political independence, there was still no economic independence because France strangles all former colonies through various measures such as requiring them to store their financial reserves in France. In essence, CAR became independent politically but remained a colony economically.

The discontentment led to the disintegration of society and ushered in military government rule. In 1993, civilian rule was restored in the Central African Republic but it only lasted for decade. By 2003 President Felix Patasse was deposed in a military coup led by General Francois Bozize which established a transitional government.  Elections held in 2005 affirmed General Bozize as president and he was reelected in 2011 in an election viewed as flawed. The government does not have control over the countryside. Many militia groups such as the Lord’s  Resistance army led by Mr. Joseph Kony continue to reign in that part of the world. The Lord’s resistance army continues to destabilize the Southeastern region of this intra African Republic.

It seems the rebel groups in an effort to consolidate power, have reached out to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 Russia was no longer the dominant power in Europe so she decided to reach out to other parts of the world.  During the same period, China has consolidated its influence in Africa by funding massive infrastructure projects.

Not to be outdone, in the year 2000, the United States introduced the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) which has been reauthorized but since then has not had much success. The reason for the moderate success of the AGOA is partly because they focus was on social engineering which is hard to measure success compared to China which focuses on infrastructure and development projects.

Russia has also taken advantage of situations like the one in the Central African Republic under the guise of wanting to help to stabilize the war torn region by giving arms to some of the warring factions. In the midst of this chaos Russia wants to be seen as the calming force and some of the rebels have received arms and military assistance from the Russians.  The United States not wanting to be left behind in the Scramble for Africa has also sent military advisers though much less than the Russian delegation.

It is evident that the Cold War 2.0 between Russia and America never ended but its has found new footing in the Central African Republic. If you remember the lessons of the cold war; the war was not fought on American or Russian soil but instead in other lands and in this case in Central African Republic. As the CAR brothers fight; it is the Russians, Chinese or Americans who will inherit the land.