About CAR: 2012 to Present

Mainly Muslim rebels from a coalition known as Seleka launched an offensive in late 2012 and eventually forced the then president, Francois Bozize (a Christian), from power in March 2013.  (Seleka means ‘coalition’ in the predominant local language of Sango in CAR).

The then Seleka leader, Michel Djotodia, became the nation's first Muslim president from March 2013 until his resignation on 10 January 2014. This was followed by the brief acting presidency of Alexandre-Ferdinand Nguendet until 23 January 2014 when Catherine Samba-Panza, the mayor of Bangui, became the current Head of State of the Transition after elections in Parliament.   

From late 2012, fighters from the Seleka forces committed a range of atrocities.  The abuses they carried out spurred majority Christians into creating vigilantes known as the anti-balaka (‘anti-machete’), which in turn have carried out atrocities against Muslims.

Thousands of people have been killed and several hundreds of thousands of the country's 4.5 million people have been displaced in the Central African Republic since late 2012. About half of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.