Portal:Central African Republic

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The Central African Republic Portal

P:CENTRAL

Flag of the Central African Republic Coat of arms of the Central African Republic

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about 620,000 square kilometres (240,000 sq mi). As of 2024, it has a population of 5,357,744, and is in the scene of a civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012. Having been a French colony under the name Ubangi-Shari, French is the official language, with Sango, a Ngbandi-based creole language, as the national and co-official language.

The Central African Republic mainly consists of Sudano-Guinean savanna, but the country also includes a Sahelo-Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. Two-thirds of the country is within the Ubangi River basin (which flows into the Congo), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari, which flows into Lake Chad.

What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited since at least 8,000 BCE. The country's borders were established by France, which began annexing portions to the French Congo in the late 19th century and in 1903 established the separate colony of Ubangi-Shari, part of French Equatorial Africa. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the Central African Republic was ruled by a series of autocratic leaders, including under Jean-Bedel Bokassa who changed the country's name to the Central African Empire and ruled as a monarch from 1976 to 1979.

By the 1990s, calls for democracy led to the first multi-party democratic elections in 1993. Ange-Félix Patassé became president, but was later removed by General François Bozizé in a 2003 coup. The Central African Republic Bush War began in 2004 and, despite a peace treaty in 2007 and another in 2011, civil war resumed in 2012. The civil war perpetuated the country's poor human rights record: it was characterized by widespread and increasing abuses by various participating armed groups, such as arbitrary imprisonment, torture, and restrictions on freedom of the press and freedom of movement. (Full article...)

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French troops positioned in Bangui on 22 December 2013.

Operation Sangaris was a French military intervention in the Central African Republic, from late 2013 till 2016. It was the seventh French military intervention there since the country gained independence from France in 1960. On 30 October 2016, France announced it was officially ending Operation Sangaris. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Central African Republic-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Falls of Boali on the Mbali River. (from Central African Republic)
Image 2Worshippers at the Bangui Cathedral. Christianity is the main religion in the Central African Republic. (from Central African Republic)
Image 3Location of the Central African Republic (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 4Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from Central African Republic)
Image 5First Central African President David Dacko in 1962 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 6Faustin Touadera succeeded interim head Catherine Samba-Panza to become president following the 2015–16 elections (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 7Rebel in northern Central African Republic in 2007. (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 8GDP per capita (2022 USD) (from Central African Republic)
Image 9Palm wine (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 10Bangui shopping district (from Central African Republic)
Image 11Dzanga-Sangha Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 12Trucks in Bangui (from Central African Republic)
Image 13The Bouar Megaliths, pictured here on a 1967 Central African stamp, date back to the very late Neolithic Era (c. 3500–2700 BCE). (from Central African Republic)
Image 14A food aid convoy in the Central African Republic in 2007 (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 15Aka hunter-gatherers living in the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve (from Central African Republic)
Image 16Rebel militia in the northern countryside, 2007 (from Central African Republic)
Image 17The Sultan of Bangassou and his wives, 1906 (from Central African Republic)
Image 18A village in the Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 19Central African Republic map of Köppen climate classification (from Central African Republic)
Image 20A proportional representation of Central African Republic exports, 2019 (from Central African Republic)
Image 21Current military situation in Central African Republic (from Central African Republic)
Image 22Charles de Gaulle in Bangui, 1940 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 23Fula women in Paoua (from Central African Republic)
Image 24A French cuisine boulangerie in Bangui (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 25Classroom in Sam Ouandja. (from Central African Republic)
Image 26Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with US President Joe Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden, 14 December 2022 (from Central African Republic)
Image 27A Central African woman (from Central African Republic)
Image 28Fufu (pictured right) is a staple food of West and Central Africa. It is a thick paste made by boiling starchy root vegetables in water and pounding the mixture with a mortar and pestle. Peanut soup is pictured at left (from Cuisine of the Central African Republic)
Image 29Refugees of the fighting in the Central African Republic, January 2014 (from Central African Republic)
Image 30President Faustin-Archange Touadéra with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 23 May 2018 (from Central African Republic)
Image 31Séléka advances in C.A.R. (December 2012–March 2013) (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 32A soldier with France's 11th Marine Artillery Regiment during military exercises in the Central African Republic in 1992 (from History of the Central African Republic)
Image 33Mothers and babies aged between 0 and 5 years are lining up in a Health Post at Begoua, a district of Bangui, waiting for the two drops of the oral polio vaccine. (from Central African Republic)
Image 34Jean-Bédel Bokassa, self-crowned Emperor of Central Africa (from Central African Republic)

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... that a former member of the French Senate ended up being exiled to the northern Central African Republic by the future emperor?

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Entries here consist of Featured articles and Good articles, which consist of high-quality content on English Wikipedia..

Lieutenant Colonel Alexandre Banza (10 October 1932 – 12 April 1969) was a military officer and politician in the Central African Republic. Born in Carnot, Ubangi-Shari, Banza served with the French Army during the First Indochina War before joining the Central African Armed Forces. As commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in 1965, Banza helped Jean-Bédel Bokassa overthrow the government of President David Dacko. Bokassa rewarded Banza by appointing him as minister of state and minister of finance in the new government. Banza quickly established the new regime's reputation abroad and forged diplomatic relations with other countries. In 1967, Bokassa and his protégé had a major argument over the president's extravagances. In April 1968, Bokassa removed Banza as minister of finance. Recognizing Bokassa's attempts to undermine him, Banza made a number of remarks highly critical of the president's handling of the government. Bokassa responded by abolishing the minister of state position.

Banza soon decided to stage a coup d'état. He confided in a few military officers, who he hoped would support his attempt to gain power. One of his confidants, Jean-Claude Mandaba, contacted the president and informed him of the date of the coup, 9 April 1969. Hours before he was going to execute his bid for power, Banza was ambushed by Mandaba and taken directly to Bokassa. Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance's sake. On 12 April, Banza presented his case to a military tribunal, which quickly sentenced him to death by firing squad. He was reportedly taken to an open field, where he was executed and buried in an unmarked grave. Alternate circumstances of Banza's death have been reported in Time and Le Monde. In the aftermath of the failed coup, Banza's family, mistress and close associates were all arrested and either sent to jail or deported. With Banza eliminated, Bokassa spent extravagantly and surrounded himself with adulators. (Full article...)

List of recognized articles
Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état Barthélemy Boganda Central African Republic women's national football team Bangui Central African Republic at the 2008 Summer Olympics

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WikiProjects

WikiProject Central African Republic

WikiProject Africa

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Cities

Largest Central African Republic cities
Rank	City / town	Préfecture	Population (2003 census)
1	Bangui	—	622,771
2	Bimbo	Ombella-M'Poko	124,176
3	Berbérati	Mambéré-Kadéï	76,918
4	Carnot *	Mambéré-Kadéï	45,421
5	Bambari	Ouaka	41,356
6	Bouar	Nana-Mambéré	40,353
7	Bossangoa	Ouham	36,478
8	Bria	Haute-Kotto	35,204
9	Bangassou	Mbomou	31,553
10	Nola	Sangha-Mbaéré	29,181
11	Kaga-Bandoro	Nana-Grébizi	24,661
12	Sibut	Kémo	22,419
13	Mbaïki	Lobaye	22,166
14	Bozoum	Ouham-Pendé	20,655