{"id":3909,"date":"2021-03-30T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T09:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/?p=3909"},"modified":"2021-11-18T10:55:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T10:55:32","slug":"the-first-year-aftermath-of-the-battle-of-bangui-22-24-march-2013-in-the-central-african-republic-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/the-first-year-aftermath-of-the-battle-of-bangui-22-24-march-2013-in-the-central-african-republic-car\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FIRST YEAR AFTERMATH OF THE BATTLE OF BANGUI (22-24 MARCH 2013) IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)"},"content":{"rendered":"

By David Rilley-Harris, DITSONG: National Museum of Military History<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The Battle of Bangui was fought between South African peacekeepers defending the Central African Republic (CAR) capital and the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka (coalition) rebel forces. The S\u00e9l\u00e9ka gained control of the capital and the entire country and the South African forces pulled out of CAR. Fifteen South African soldiers were killed and 25 were wounded. Equipment abandoned on the battlefield amounted to an estimated loss valued at R4 458 4301. While the South Africans had performed as well as they could be expected to in the circumstances, they had been heavily outnumbered, and were underequipped, and the CAR army (FACA) and regional peacekeepers (FOMAC) who were supposed to have stood alongside South Africa barely engaged in the fight at all.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Figure 1:\u00a0<\/strong>South African soldiers<\/em><\/p>\n

SANDF soldiers watch as their fallen comrades are loaded on to a plane at the French base in Bangui to be flown back to South Africa on March 25 2013. They hold a flag that was shot up when a group of 200 soldiers kept a S\u00e9l\u00e9ka rebel force of several thousand out of Bangui. (Picture and caption from Times Live article A desperate prayer in the shadow of death by Stephan Hofstatter, 9 November 2014)<\/p>\n

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Figure 2<\/strong>: S\u00e9l\u00e9ka outside the Presidential Palace soon after the battle (AFP)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The Immediate International Response<\/strong>
\nIn their defence of Bangui the South African forces had fired thousands of rifle rounds, 12 000 machinegun rounds, 200 mortars, and 60 rockets. Before the ceasefire which preceded South Africa\u2019s withdrawal from CAR the South Africans had killed roughly 800 of the enemy but still could not protect Bangui.2 After the pyrrhic S\u00e9l\u00e9ka victory, CAR began a descent towards genocide and famine.<\/p>\n

On the day following the battle South African President Jacob Zuma said that \u201cOur soldiers inflicted heavy casualties on the attacking bandit force. We commend them for their bravery and this will not deter us from going ahead with defending peace and democracy\u201d3. The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had already condemned the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka attack as an \u201cunconstitutional seizure of power\u201d and called for the restoration of order.4 The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Chief Ramtane Lamamra announced sanctions and the suspension of CAR from all AU activities, as well as travel restrictions and asset freezes on S\u00e9l\u00e9ka leaders. France and the European Union (EU) also condemned the attack. In the meantime, S\u00e9l\u00e9ka leader Michel Djotodia announced his intentions to declare himself president.<\/p>\n

An emergency summit was held in N\u2019Djamena in the Republic of Chad on 3 April 2013, ten days after the Battle of Bangui. The Chad summit was formally called the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). The South African delegation was headed by President Jacob Zuma and included the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane), Minister of Defence and Military Veterans (Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula), and Minister of State Security (Dr Siyabonga Cwele).<\/p>\n

During the Chad summit ECCAS requested that South Africa send more soldiers into CAR to help restore order. In the days leading up to the summit Red Cross volunteers had been helping to treat the scores of wounded and clear the remains of the dead. Some of the looting that was occurring was being committed by the rebel forces themselves and one FOMAC soldier said \u201cThere is pillaging everywhere, it\u2019s very hard to control anything\u201d. Hundreds of people were roaming the streets looking for food.5 The South African soldiers, however, were pulling out of CAR with only vague promises to return if necessary6. France sent in 300 more soldiers adding to the 250 who had been protecting the Bangui airport7.<\/p>\n

The host of the Chad summit, Chad President Idriss D\u00e9by, said that FOMAC was unable to restore order and that there was no money available while the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka \u201cis an organisation that lacks unity and the initiative of a command\u201d. Regional leaders committed 2000 more troops adding to the 500 already in CAR from Gabon, Cameroon, Congo, and Chad, but President Zuma only confirmed that South Africa would extend its presence in neighbouring Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).8 CAR had always represented a regional peacekeeping concern for South Africa with the belief that instability in CAR could spill over into the DRC. Inside CAR, there were suspicions regarding regional support for the coup with it being said that:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are far too many uniformed Chadians racing through the streets and manning impromptu roadblocks for this to feel like an internal conflict. We had already negotiated our way through four roadblocks at this point, all of which were manned by Chadians. How do I know they were Chadians? They spoke Arabic rather than French or Sango and, to make it easier, they also told us that they were Chadian.\u201d9<\/p>\n

CAR\u2019s ousted president, Fran\u00e7ois Boziz\u00e9, said that the soldiers that had attacked South Africa at their base on the last day of the battle had been Chadian Special Forces and not coalition (S\u00e9l\u00e9ka) rebels.10 One of the reasons that President Boziz\u00e9 had sought out help from South Africa in the first place was because of waning support from Chad. President Boziz\u00e9 had previously relied heavily on Chad\u2019s Presidential Guard for his protection11.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Bangui the prospect of any form of political stability looked bleak. South Africa had been the only power in CAR to make a strong clear attempt to prevent the coup but was withdrawing. What reinforcements were being promised was far short of what would be needed to stabilise the country. Yves Ganazohi, a Bangui resident said \u201cWe have the impression that Central African Republic is a forgotten nation. We appeal to the international community to help us now.12<\/p>\n

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Forgotten nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The atrocities of the first few months after the Battle of Bangui were committed mostly by the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka. Human Rights Watch reported the following: S\u00e9l\u00e9ka killed 17 unarmed people in Damala on 27 March. In Walingba on 12 April a rocket attack injured 15, including 13 children, two of whom required amputations. On 13 April S\u00e9l\u00e9ka killed 18 unarmed people near Ouango and Kassai with witnesses reporting a priest being killed while holding up a bible appealing for calm and a women being killed with her baby still strapped to her back. On 13 and 14 April S\u00e9l\u00e9ka attacked Boy-Rabe killing about 28 unarmed people and injuring 13. On 15 April S\u00e9l\u00e9ka killed a woman and her 18-month-old daughter shooting the baby in her head before killing the mother. S\u00e9l\u00e9ka killed at least 6 unarmed people in Gobongo on 29 June. There were also several reports of S\u00e9l\u00e9ka executing CAR military (FACA) soldiers and people they believed to be FACA soldiers with one incident on 15 April seeing five executed at the Mpoko River outside Bangui. Much of the violence was attributed to weak leadership and lack of organisation in the transitional government under Michel Djotodia with reports including S\u00e9l\u00e9ka killing S\u00e9l\u00e9ka for control of territory. Over one thousand homes were already destroyed in the first few months after the battle leaving civilians living in the bush and dying of injuries, hunger, and sickness. Recommendations from Human Rights Watch included a request that the government of Chad investigate allegations of Chadian support for the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka.13 The UN described the situation as a total breakdown of law and order and a threat to regional stability. In August 2013, Michel Djotodia was sworn in as CAR President.<\/p>\n

\"\"In September Michel Djotodia dissolved the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka under criticism that he had failed to control them and in October the United Nations approved a peacekeeping force to support the African Union and French forces. One part of the reasoning behind South Africa\u2019s initial entry into CAR was to promote the use of African resources for African peacekeeping. A more efficient system of peacekeeping in Africa could be spring-boarded with traditional funders putting money into African peacekeeping initiatives instead of sending their own forces. As it happened, the only force actively defending CAR at the Battle of Bangui was an underequipped small South African force without external funding. The result, alongside a human rights catastrophe, was the obligation of far more international funding then would have been needed to support Africa\u2019s own peacekeeping efforts.<\/p>\n

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Figure 3<\/strong>: Michel Djotodia (Wikipedia)<\/em><\/p>\n

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The initial S\u00e9l\u00e9ka (largely Muslim) attacks on mostly Christian civilians saw the predictable development of counter attacks by Christian militias calling themselves the anti-balaka (anti-machete). In a S\u00e9l\u00e9ka controlled area of Bangui, bodies were discovered shoved into what may have been a septic tank in what was probably the first uncovered mass grave14, and attacks on Muslim civilians was accelerating in response to such atrocities. With hundreds dying in violence increasingly described as sectarian, the end of 2013 saw France increasing its CAR force to 1600 joining the 6000 African Union peacekeepers (MISCA or Mission internationale de soutien \u00e0 la Centrafrique sous conduite africaine). In January 2014, Michel Djotodia resigned as President under criticism for failing to stop the proliferation of sectarian violence. On 23 January, the Mayor of Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza, took over as interim President.<\/p>\n

In February 2014, as anti-balaka attacks on civilians further filled the gap left by the dissolved S\u00e9l\u00e9ka, Amnesty International reported that peacekeepers had \u201cfailed to prevent the ethnic cleansing of Muslim civilians in the western part of the Central African Republic\u201d prompting \u201ca Muslim exodus of historic proportions\u201d. One hundred Muslims had already been killed in January in Bossemptele in the north of CAR.15 The exodus of Muslims who had worked much of the CAR food trade threatened a famine. The United Nations estimated that a quarter of the country\u2019s population (1.3 million people) were in urgent need of food aid. Nine out of ten people were eating just once per day and 800 000 people were displaced. With no other options, the UN planned an emergency airlift of food from Cameroon at five times the cost of trucking.16<\/p>\n

By the end of February 2014, the anti-balaka were presenting as the new primary threat in CAR. On 16 February Rwandan peacekeepers near CAR\u2019s border with Cameroon killed four anti-balaka militia who were firing on civilians17 and on 25 February Burundian peacekeepers in Bangui killed two anti-balaka militia who were looting a shop18. Chad president Idriss D\u00e9by said that French and African forces could not contain the violence and that \u201cWe need more men, more assets. Only the UN can provide this. We need to move to a UN force\u201d19. For the UN, Ban Ki-moon instead proposed that the African Union force be provided with logistical and financial support with an estimated cost of $38 million for six months. The African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Smail Chergui, welcomed the proposal.20 The new CAR president Samba-Panza said she would \u201cgo to war\u201d with the anti-balaka who she said had \u201clost their sense of mission\u201d and had become \u201cthe ones who kill, who pillage, who are violent\u201d21. For their part, the anti-balaka said through their spokesperson, Sebastien Wenezoui, that they would only disarm when the \u201cbandits\u201d are disarmed first, and that the tension with Muslims was driven by those that had come from neighbouring countries, mostly Chad22.<\/p>\n

March of 2014 saw escalations in violence, increasing calls for international aid, and outright threats being made mostly against the anti-balaka. By this time almost all of the roughly 100 000 Muslims who had lived in Bangui had fled. They had been CAR citizens and not Chadian Muslim combatants. Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said \u201cThe anti-Balaka, who originally came into existence as a reaction to the depredations of the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka are now metamorphosing into criminal gangs who, in addition to continuing to hunt down Muslims, are also starting to prey on Christians and other non-Muslims\u2026 How many more children have to be decapitated, how many more women and girls will be raped, how many more acts of cannibalism must there be, before we really sit up and pay attention\u201d? Pillay reported that CAR top leadership had said that there was no state or coherent national army or justice system.23 Pillay also appealed for the international community to provide the proposed 12 000 troops for a UN peacekeeping force saying \u201cPeople apprehended with blood on their machetes and severed body parts in their hands have been allowed to go free because there is nowhere to detain them and no means to charge them with the crimes they have clearly committed\u2026 If we get it wrong again, by failing to support this country wholeheartedly in its time of need, we risk decades of instability and the creation of a new and fertile breeding ground for religious extremism, not just in CAR but in the wider region\u201d.24 By the end of March 2014 the total number of AU peacekeepers (MISCA) killed had reached 21 and efforts against the anti-balaka were starting to be driven by anger.<\/p>\n

In April 2014, the UN Security Council authorised the 12 000 strong UN peacekeeping force which, in September, formally took over from the AU. It was called MINUSCA (Mission multidimensionnelle int\u00e9gr\u00e9e des Nations unies pour la stabilisation en Centrafrique or United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic). A smaller French-led European Union peacekeeping force was still in place. MINUSCA would be comprised of about 10 000 troops and thousands of various police and correctional services personnel, and would function with aggressive rules of engagement similar to that given to the UN Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) which South Africa had successfully led in ending the Democratic Republic of the Congo M23 rebellion in 2013. On the withdrawal of Chadian troops from the MISCA mission in CAR, Chad\u2019s foreign ministry said \u201cDespite the sacrifices we have made, Chad and Chadians have been targeted in a gratuitous and malicious campaign that blamed them for all the suffering in CAR\u201d25.<\/p>\n

For years France had been claiming that their will was to withdraw from CAR, its former colony, and to see either peace prevail or see its replacement by an African peacekeeping force. Accusations that Chad had taken substantial control over CAR\u2019s fate led to Chad\u2019s withdrawal in 2014. In the same year, the Lord\u2019s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group became more active in CAR and appeared to be assisting the anti-balaka against Muslims, and USA became more involved partly as a part of their campaign against the LRA.<\/p>\n

In March 2013, the small lone force of a little over 200 South Africans who had stood in defence of Bangui had done well enough in their attempt to protect the capital to suggest that given authority and funding from the international community, they could have forced a stable resolution to CAR\u2019s disputes. Instead, by mid-2014, CAR was absorbing tens of millions of dollars of international aid as anarchy reigned.<\/p>\n

US Army special forces with troops from the Central African Republic and Uganda, in Obo, Central African Republic. (AP Photo\/Ben Curtis[vc_empty_space height=”18px”]<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n