SUMMARY
Seleka (originally known as Union of Democratic Forces for Unity; UFDR) was a rebel alliance established on 15 September 2006 that sought to change the composition of the Government of Central African Republic before broadening its agenda to overthrowing the government entirely. Whilst still operating under the name UFDR, it signed a peace agreement with the government on 13 April 2007. However, a failure to fully implement the peace agreement motivated the group to return to violence under the new name of Seleka in 2012. Fighting continued until 14 March 2013, when Seleka captured the capital and overthrew the government (see Government of Central African Republic – Seleka for more information).
Under its original name of UFDR, Seleka was initially comprised of three rebel groups: GAPLC (Groupe d`action patriotique pour la libérationde centrafrique), FDC (Front démocratique centralafricain and MLCJ (Mouvement des libérateurs centralafricains pour la justice). However UFDR renamed itself Seleka, which means “alliance” in the Sango national language, when it formed an alliance with the CPSK (Patriotic Convention for the Country's Salvation) and the CPJP - Fundamental (Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace-Fundamental) in December 2012. Although both the CPSK and the CPJP – Fundamental had splintered from the CPJP earlier in June and July respectively, neither had been active in UCDP data previously. Therefore, according to UCDP coding rules, Seleka was seen as a continuation of UFDR since it was the only member group of Seleka that had been previously active in our data. Other groups also joined the Seleka alliance such as a splinter faction from the FPR – BL and the FDPC, which briefly joined Seleka in December 2012 but then distanced itself from the group in 2013. After 14 March 2013, Seleka’s leader, Michel Djotodia, proclaimed himself President of the Central African Republic and Seleka is considered the Government of Central African Republic. After increasingly losing control over the group, Djotodia announced Seleka’s dissolution on 13 September 2013. Therefore, violence perpetrated by the group after this date has been coded under FPRC (ex-Seleka).
Although it lacked a specified and uniting ideology, the groups that joined Seleka shared a sense of political and economic marginalization under the government regime led by President Francois Bozizé. The leaders of Seleka (then UFDR) initially demanded power-sharing as they complained that Bozizé’s policies were exclusionist and that the central government had not shared wealth generated from the country’s natural resources with ethnic groups outside of its political and ethnic base. Although a peace agreement with the Government of Central African Republic was achieved in 2007, Seleka went on to demand the removal President Bozizé in 2012; it considered the government to have failed to implement the 2007 peace agreement fully, for example, with a complete DDR programme.
The individual groups that formed Seleka shared a Muslim identity and most came initially from the north-eastern area of Central African Republic. During 2006 and early 2007, Seleka (then UFDR) was mainly located in the north-eastern, Arabic-speaking prefectures of Vagata and Haute Kotto. Originally a multi-ethnic group, Seleka relied more and more on the ethnic Goula from 2007 onwards. After it expanded in 2012, many fighters and mercenaries from Chad and Darfur in Sudan also joined Seleka. In 2006, Seleka was estimated to have between 150 and 200 troops. However, this figure quickly grew in 2013 with general estimates reporting 1000 to 3500 troops, whilst some estimates claim even higher figures. Overall, Seleka was an amorphous grouping of combatants from different movements; it operated without a centralized chain of command but it had several key leaders nonetheless. Early leaders of Seleka, when it was still named UFDR, included Michel Am-Nondofro Djotodia, Abakar Sabone and Zakaria Damane. Djotodia was the main leader; he was an ethnic Goula and was initially head of the smaller GAPLC. Prior to 2006, Djotodia served as a civil servant within the Ministry of Planning, Foreign Affairs and as the official government consul for the Central African Republic in Nyala, South Darfur in Sudan. Between November 2006 and February 2008, both Djotodia and Sabone were arrested and imprisoned in Benin for using the country as a base for the Seleka rebellion. In 2012, Mohammed Moussa Dhaffane and Noureddine Adam also became members of the Seleka leadership, as heads of the CPSK and CPJP – Fundamental respectively. However, Djotodia remained the overarching leader of Seleka so when it overthrew the government in March 2013, it was Djotodia that took over as President.
