Central African Republic

A landlocked country with substantial mineral wealth and almost no functioning state, which has been the case for most of its existence. The territory was Ubangi-Shari under French Equatorial Africa, leased in blocks to concessionary companies that extracted rubber and ivory with forced labour under conditions Andre Gide publicised in 1927. Barthelemy Boganda, the first Central African priest and the independence leader, wanted a larger federation of the equatorial territories and died in a plane crash in 1959, a year before independence. Jean-Bedel Bokassa seized power in 1966 and in 1977 crowned himself emperor in a ceremony that consumed a large share of the national budget, with a gilded throne and a French-made crown, before France removed him in 1979 following the killing of schoolchildren who had protested against compulsory uniforms. Diamonds, gold, uranium and timber have funded whoever holds the capital rather than the country. Civil war from 2012 between largely Muslim Seleka and largely Christian anti-balaka forces displaced a quarter of the population, and Russian Wagner contractors have operated there since 2018 in exchange for mining concessions. Bangui is the capital. Dzanga-Sangha's forests hold lowland gorillas and forest elephants. The country has about five million people in an area larger than France. Sango is a national language alongside French and is spoken almost universally. It is landlocked and among the poorest countries in the world by income per head. The Ubangi river forms much of its southern border. Its flag deliberately combines French and pan-African colours, with a red stripe crossing them to represent the blood common to both.

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