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Mon, 21:35 16 Nov 2009 GMT17

 
Central African Republic troubles

Last reviewed: 26-07-2009

POVERTY RIFE AMID POLITICAL INSTABILITY


Despite an abundance of diamonds and timber, landlocked Central African Republic is one of the poorest states in Africa.

  • Humanitarian emergency in northwest and northeast
  • Hundreds of thousands driven from their homes
  • Politics intertwined with neighbouring Chad and Sudan

    The government has little control outside the capital. It is constantly battling rebels, after years of instability and a history of frequent coups and mutinies.

    The north suffers the worst violence, which has driven more than 300,000 people from their homes since 2006, including 124,000 who have fled across the border into Chad and Cameroon. The country's politics are intimately linked with its neighbours, especially Chad and Sudan, raising fears of an escalating regional conflict.

    Rebel groups and mercenaries raid villages for food and livestock, sometimes raping and killing. Villagers also live in fear of "zaraguinas", marauding criminal gangs who kidnap children for ransom and thrive on the lawlessness accompanying the political conflict.

    War destruction and low wages have left the education system and health services in tatters, and its life expectancy, child mortality and HIV rates are among the worst in the world.


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    Central African Republic's President Francois Bozize speaks at a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food security summit in Rome November 16, 2009. The United Nations opened its world food summit ...


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