SUMMARY

Ethnicity, religion, livelihood, and political affiliation have all played important parts for conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR). The main division has been between “northerners” and “southerners”. Northerners are generally Muslim and herders, southerners are generally Christian and farmers. The majority of the population in CAR are Christians and only around 15% are Muslims. Tensions between the Christian and Muslim communities increased when President Bozize was ousted by the mainly Muslim Séléka alliance led by Michel Djotodia in 2013 and the Christian population was repeatedly targeted in deadly attacks. When Djotodia in his turn had to leave office in January 2014 it was followed by extremely violent attacks by the anti-Balaka on the Muslim population. Sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims came hand in hand with these developments.

The non-state conflict between Christians (CAR) and Muslims (CAR) in the Central African Republic was first included in UCDP data in 2013. Sectarian violence took place in December of that year and by 20 December the outbreak of fighting in Bangui had resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.