Location, location, isolation: CAR rues geography

By Alistair Thomson

BANGUI, Feb 21 (Reuters) - From the air, much of Central African Republic looks like deserted bushland.

Larger than mainland France but with less than one tenth of its former ruler's population, the landlocked and impoverished country languishes near the bottom of just about every development and governance ranking.

"There's such a lack here of anything. Central African Republic? Where's that?" said one foreign aid worker.

Geography is its defining quintessence -- and its curse.

The French called the territory Oubangui-Chari after rivers on its southern and northern frontiers, before the country adopted the equally business-like "Republique Centrafricaine" in the run-up to independence in 1960.

"Central African Republic is strategic not because it is powerful, but because it has powerful neighbours," said one observer in the dilapidated riverside capital Bangui.

In a poor region, neighbours Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo all enjoy significantly greater political clout and mineral wealth.

Congolese and Chadian rebels have come to loot and pillage during years of coups and instability following the despotic rule of megalomaniac leader Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who famously declared himself emperor at a lavish ceremony and is widely reputed to have had a taste for human flesh.

"The favourite statistic is the government controls 2 percent of the national territory," said one diplomat.

Last year the government accused Sudan of helping rebels who seized a swathe of northeastern territory around Birao before being dislodged by French special forces backed by helicopters and fighter jets. The surviving rebels melted into the bush.

President Francois Bozize observed after a humanitarian mission to Birao this month that many of his officials had not even been to the remote town, three hours from Bangui by light aircraft, or up to a week by road -- at least during the seven or eight dry months the roads are passable each year.

"It's a problem of transport here," one Birao resident told Reuters during a recent visit. "There's not even a bank."

In the northwest, members of another rebel group told reporters they were lucky to hear of a peace deal this month on the radio, as they heard nothing from their commanders.

ROAD TO NOWHERE

Geography exacts a heavy toll on the economy, with most imports and exports travelling the 1,450 km (900-mile) road from Bangui to Cameroon's Atlantic port of Douala, which some studies say can take up to a month including lengthy customs delays.

Rife banditry and one of the lowest proportions of paved roads among landlocked countries make for punitive transport costs, according to the International Monetary Fund.

"C.A.R. exporters and importers face among the highest per unit land transport costs in the world," it said in a recent working paper.

Cotton, one of the main exports, costs up to 120,000 CFA per tonne to transport to Douala, hammering an industry already struggling with low international prices, said Lezin Leklegban-Ka-Takotessoumbou, in charge of reforming the sector.

The government has pinned hopes for economic growth on gold, diamonds, uranium and other minerals, but there is little industrial-scale extraction. Alluvial diamonds have been informally mined for years, but many are smuggled abroad.

An executive for one of a handful of foreign mining firms prospecting here said he had hired a workforce, but was waiting for equipment to clear customs in Douala and make the long journey by road before the next stage of research could begin.

An alternative freight route by river to Brazzaville in Congo Republic and on to the port of Pointe-Noire by train is only feasible for around half the year around the wet season.

Prime Minister Elie Dote said his government was exploring other routes via Gabon or even Port Sudan on Africa's east coast. "Being landlocked is a real problem," he said.

Even air travel is difficult, with just one flight to Europe per week and a handful of flights to other African destinations, some with airlines the United Nations judges unsafe.

Social isolation is widespread. Internet access is notoriously unreliable with only a handful of towns online.

Less than half of children complete their sixth year of school, according to the government.

Poverty, violence and an HIV/AIDS rate of 15 percent have seen infant mortality rise to more than one in five in the last decade, and life expectancy drop by five years to 38.

"CAR has no voice," said the foreign aid worker.

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