Central African Republic

République Centrafricaine Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka Central African Republic
Flag Emblem
Motto: "Unité, Dignité, Travail" (French) "Unity, Dignity, Work"
Anthem: La Renaissance (French) E Zingo (Sango)
Capital	Bangui 4°22′N 18°35′E
Largest city	capital
Official languages	Sango, French
Government	Republic
- President	François Bozizé
- Prime Minister	Élie Doté
Independence	from France
- Date	August 13 1960
Area
- Total	622,984 km² (43rd) 240,534 sq mi
- Water (%)	0
Population
- 2007 estimate	4,216,666
- 2003 census	3,895,150
- Density	6.77/km² 17.53/sq mi
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
- Total	$5.015 billion
- Per capita	$1,198
GDP (nominal)	2006 estimate
- Total	$1,488 billion
- Per capita	$355
HDI  (2004)	0.353 (low)
Currency	CFA franc (XAF)
Time zone	WAT (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	not observed (UTC+1)
Internet TLD	.cf
Calling code	+236

The Central African Republic is a landlocked country in Central Africa.

The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari became the Central African Republic upon independence in 1960. After three tumultuous decades of misrule - mostly by military governments - civilian rule was established in 1993 and lasted for one decade. President Ange-Felix PATASSE's civilian government was plagued by unrest, and in March 2003 he was deposed in a military coup led by General Francois BOZIZE, who established a transitional government. Though the government has the tacit support of civil society groups and the main parties, a wide field of candidates contested the municipal, legislative, and presidential elections held in March and May of 2005 in which General BOZIZE was affirmed as president. The government still does not fully control the countryside, where pockets of lawlessness persist.

Since most of the territory is located in the Ubangi and Shari river basins, the French called the colony it carved out in this region Ubangi-Shari. This French colony became a semi-autonomous territory of the French Community in 1958 and then an independent nation on August 13, 1960. For over three decades since independence the CAR was ruled by presidents who were not chosen in truly democratic elections or who took power by force. Local discontent was eventually reinforced by international pressure, following the end of the Cold War.

The first fair democratic elections were held in 1993 with resources provided by the country's donors and help from the UN Office for Electoral Affairs. They brought Ange-Félix Patassé to power, but President Patassé lost popular support and was overthrown by General François Bozizé in 2003. General Bozizé won a democratic election in May 2005 and remains in power today.

The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world and among the ten poorest countries in Africa.

Geography

File:Cenafrep sat.png

Satellite image of Central African Republic, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map Library

Map of the Central African Republic

The Central African Republic is an entirely landlocked nation. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the east, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west.

Two-thirds of the country lies in the basins of the Ubangi River, which then flows south into the Congo River, while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Shari River, which flows north into Lake Chad.

Much of the country consists of flat or rolling plateaus savanna, typically about 1,640 ft (500 m) above sea level. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills, and there are scattered hills in the southwestern part of the country. To the northwest is the Yade Massif, a granite plateau with an altitude of 3,750 feet (1,143 m).

At 240,519 square miles (622,984 sq km), the Central African Republic is the world's 43rd-largest country (after Somalia). It is comparable in size to Ukraine, and is somewhat smaller than the U.S. state of Texas.

Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River, with the Mbomou River in the east merging with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part of the country. The eastern border lies along the edge of the Nile River watershed.

An estimates 8 percent of the country is covered by forest, with the densest parts in the south. The forest is highly diverse and includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli, and Sipo. Lumber poaching is commonplace.

The climate is generally tropical. The northern areas are subject to harmattan winds, which are hot, dry, and carry dust. The northern regions have been subject to desertification, and the northeast is desert. The remainder of the country is prone to flooding from nearby rivers.

History

Pre-history

Stone tools indicate human habitation for at least eight thousand years. Megaliths near Bouar are at least 2,500 years old. Between about 1000 B.C.E. and 1000 C.E., Adamawa-Eastern-speaking peoples spread eastward from Cameroon to Sudan and settled in most of the territory of the CAR. During the same period, a much smaller number of Bantu-speaking immigrants settled in southwestern CAR and some Central Sudanic-speaking populations settled along the Oubangi River. The majority of the CAR's inhabitants thus speak Adamawa-Eastern languages or Bantu languages belonging to the Niger-Congo family. A minority speak Central Sudanic languages of the Nilo-Saharan family. More recent immigrants include many Muslim merchants who most often speak Arabic or Hausa.

Until the early 1800s, the peoples of the CAR lived beyond the expanding Islamic frontier in the Sudanic zone of Africa and thus had relatively little contact with Abrahamic religions or northern economies. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, however, Muslim traders began increasingly to penetrate the region of the CAR and to cultivate special relations with local leaders in order to facilitate their trade and settlement in the region. The initial arrival of Muslim traders in the early 1800s was relatively peaceful and depended upon the support of local peoples, but after about 1850, slave traders with well-armed soldiers began to penetrate the region. Between c. 1860 and 1910, slave traders from Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Dar al-Kuti in northern CAR, and Nzakara and Zande states in southeastern CAR exported much of the population of eastern CAR, a region with very few inhabitants today.

French colonialism

European penetration of Central African territory began in the late nineteenth century. Count Savorgnan de Brazza took the lead in establishing the French Congo (with headquarters in the city named after him, Brazzaville) and sent expeditions up the Ubangi River in an effort to expand French territorial claims. King Leopold II of Belgium, Germany and the United Kingdom also competed to establish claims to territory in the Central African region.

In 1889 the French established a post on the Ubangi River at Bangui, the future capital of Ubangi-Shari and the CAR. De Brazza then sent expeditions in 1890-91 up the Sangha River in what is now southwestern CAR, up the center of the Ubangi basin toward Lake Chad, and eastward along the Ubangi toward the Nile. De Brazza and the pro-colonials in France wished to expand the borders of the French Congo to link up with French territories in West Africa, North Africa, and East Africa. In 1894, the French Congo's borders with Leopold II's Congo Free State and German Cameroon were fixed by diplomatic agreements. Then, in 1899, the French Congo's border with Sudan was fixed along the Congo-Nile watershed, leaving France without its much-coveted outlet on the Nile and turning southeastern Ubangi-Shari into a cul-de-sac.

Once the borders were set, France had to decide how to pay for the costly occupation, administration, and development of the territory. The reported financial successes of Leopold II's concessionary companies in the Congo Free State convinced the French government in 1899 to grant 17 private companies large concessions in the Ubangi-Shari region. In return for the right to exploit these lands by buying local products and selling European goods, the companies promised to pay rent to the colonial state and to promote the development of their concessions. The companies employed European and African agents who frequently used extremely brutal and atrocious methods to force Central Africans to work for them.

At the same time, the French colonial administration began to force Central Africans to pay taxes and to provide the state with free labor. The companies and French administration often collaborated in their efforts to force Central Africans to work for their benefit, but they also often found themselves at odds. Some French officials reported abuses committed by private company militias and even by their own colonial colleagues and troops, but efforts to bring these criminals to justice almost always failed. When news of terrible atrocities committed against Central Africans by concessionary company employees and colonial officials or troops reached France and caused an outcry, there were investigations and some feeble attempts at reform, but the situation on the ground in Ubangi-Shari remained essentially the same.

In the meantime, during the first decade of French colonial rule (c. 1900-1910), the rulers of African states in the Ubangi-Shari region increased their slave raiding activities and also their sale of local products to European companies and the colonial state. They took advantage of their treaties with the French to procure more weapons, which were used to capture more slaves. Much of the eastern half of Ubangi-Shari was depopulated as a result of the export of Central Africans by local rulers during the first decade of colonial rule.

During the second decade of colonial rule (c. 1910-1920), armed employees of private companies and the colonial state continued to use brutal methods to deal with local populations who resisted forced labor, but the power of local African rulers was destroyed and so slave raiding was greatly diminished.

In 1911, the Sangha and Lobaye basins were ceded to Germany as part of an agreement giving France a free hand in Morocco, so western Ubangi-Shari came under German rule until World War I, during which France reconquered this territory using Central African troops.

The third decade of colonial rule (1920-1930) was a transition period during which a network of roads was built, cash crops were promoted, mobile health services were created to combat sleeping sickness, and Protestant missions established stations in different parts of the country. New forms of forced labor were also introduced, however, as the French conscripted large numbers of Ubangians to work on the Congo-Ocean Railway. Many of these recruits died of exhaustion and illness. In 1925 the French writer André Gide published Voyage au Congo in which he described the alarming consequences of conscription for the Congo-Ocean railroad and exposed the continuing atrocities committed against Central Africans. In 1928 a major insurrection, the Kongo-Wara 'war of the hoe handle' broke out in western Ubangi-Shari and continued for several years. The extent of this insurrection, perhaps the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Africa during these years, was carefully hidden from the French public because it provided evidence, once again, of strong opposition to French colonial rule and forced labor.

During the fourth decade of colonial rule (c. 1930-1940), cotton, tea, and coffee emerged as important cash crops in Ubangi-Shari and the mining of diamonds and gold began in earnest. Several cotton companies were granted purchasing monopolies over large areas of cotton production and were thus able to fix the prices paid to cultivators in order to assure profits for their shareholders. Europeans established coffee plantations and Central Africans also began to cultivate coffee.

The fifth decade of colonial rule (c. 1940-1950) was shaped by World War II and the political reforms that followed in its wake. In September 1940 pro-Gaullist French officers took control of Ubangi-Shari.

Independence

On December 1, 1958, the colony of Ubangi-Shari became an autonomous territory within the French Community and took the name Central African Republic. The founding father and president of the Conseil de Gouvernement, Barthélémy Boganda, died in a mysterious plane accident in 1959, just eight days before the last elections of the colonial era. On 13 August 1960 the Central African Republic gained its independence and two of Boganda's closest aides, Abel Goumba and David Dacko, became involved in a power struggle. With the backing of the French, Dacko took power and soon had Goumba arrested. By 1962 President Dacko had established a one-party state.

On 31 December 1965 Dacko was overthrown by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself President for life in 1972, and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire on 4 December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world. In 1979 France carried out a coup against Bokassa and "restored" Dacko to power. Dacko, in turn, was overthrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on 1 September 1981.

Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in 1986 which was adopted by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, the Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC) was voluntary. In 1987, semi-competitive elections to parliament were held and municipal elections were held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, boycotted these elections because their parties were not allowed to compete.

By 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement became very active. In May 1990 a letter signed by 253 prominent citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference but Kolingba refused this request and detained several opponents. Pressure from the United States, more reluctantly, from France, and from a group of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France, USA, Germany, Japan, EU, World Bank and UN) finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992, with help from the UN Office of Electoral Affairs. After using the excuse of alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the elections as a pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under intense pressure from GIBAFOR to establish a "Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council) (CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission" which included representatives from all political parties.

When elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the international community, Ange-Félix Patassé came in first in the first round and Kolingba came in fourth after Abel Goumba and David Dacko. In the second round, Patassé won 53 percent of the vote while Goumba won 45.6 percent. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya, Kare and Kaba voters in seven heavily-populated prefectures in the northwest while Goumba's support came largely from ten less-populated prefectures in the south and east. Furthermore, Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People gained a simple but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé needed coalition partners.

Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of his military rank of general in March of 1994 and then charged several former ministers with various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important, lucrative posts in the government. Two hundred mostly Yakoma members of the presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned to the army. Kolingba's RDC loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was conducting a "witch hunt" against the Yakoma.

A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 and promulgated on 14 January 1995, but this constitution, like those before it, did not have much impact on the practice of politics. In 1996-1997, reflecting steadily decreasing public confidence in its erratic behaviour, three mutinies against Patassé's government were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January 1997, the Bangui Peace Accords were signed which provided for the deployment of an inter-African military mission, the Mission Interafricaine de Surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB). Mali's former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief mediator and brokered the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The MISAB mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force, the Mission des Nations Unis en RCA (MINURCA).

In 1998 parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba' RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats, which constituted a comeback, but in 1999, notwithstanding widespread public anger in urban centers with his corrupt rule, Patassé won free elections to become president for a second term. On 28 May 2001 rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou, and General Francois N'Djadder Bedaya were shot, but Patassé regained the upper hand by bringing in at least 300 troops of the rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba from over the river in the Democratic Republic of Congo and by Libyan soldiers.

In the aftermath of this failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of the capital, Bangui, that resulted the destruction of many homes as well as the torture and murder of many opponents. Eventually Patassé came to suspect that General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against him and so Bozizé fled with loyal troops to Chad. On 25 October 2002 Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the country. Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organization failed to stop the rebels, who took control of the country and thus succeeded in overthrowing Patassé.

François Bozizé suspended the constitution and named a new cabinet which included most opposition parties. Abel Goumba, "Mr. Clean," was named vice-president, which gave Bozizé's new government a positive image. Bozizé established a broad-based National Transition Council to draft a new constitution and announced that he would step down and run for office once the new constitution was approved. A national dialogue was held from 15 September to 27 October 2003, and Bozizé won a fair election that excluded Patassé, to be elected president on a second ballot, in May 2005.

Politics

The country is currently under the rule of François Bozizé. A new constitution was approved by voters in a referendum held on December 5 2004. Full multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections were held in March 2005, with a second round in May. Bozizé was declared the winner after a runoff vote. The unicameral National Assembly has 109 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. The last elections were held in 2005 and the next are scheduled for 2010. In February 2006, there were reports of widespread violence in the northern part of the CAR. Thousands of refugees fled their homes, caught in the crossfire of battles between government troops and rebel forces. More than seven thousand people fled to neighboring Chad. Those who remained told of government troops systematically killing men and boys suspected of cooperating with rebels.

Administrative divisions

Prefectures of the Central African Republic

The Central African Republic is divided into fourteen administrative prefectures, along with two economic prefectures and one autonomous commune (Bangui). The prefectures are further divided into seventy-one sub-prefectures.

Economy

The economy of the CAR is dominated by the cultivation and sale of food crops such as cassava, peanuts, maize, sorghum, millet, sesame and plantains. The importance of food crops over exported cash crops is indicated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple food of most Central Africans, ranges between 200,000 and 300,000 tons a year, while the production of cotton, the principal exported cash crop, ranges from 25,000 to 45,000 tons a year. Food crops are not exported in large quantities but they still constitute the principal cash crops of the country because Central Africans derive far more income from the periodic sale of surplus food crops than from exported cash crops such as cotton or coffee. Many rural and urban women also transform some food crops into alcoholic drinks such as sorghum beer or hard liquor and derive considerable income from the sale of these drinks.

The per capita income of the CAR is often listed as being around $300 a year, said to be one of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on reported sales of exports and largely ignores the more important but unregistered sale of foods, locally produced alcohol, diamonds, ivory, bushmeat, and traditional medicine, for example. The informal economy is more important than the formal economy for most Central Africans.

Diamonds constitute the most important export of the CAR, frequently accounting for 40-55 percent of export revenues, but an estimated 30-50 percent of the diamonds produced each year leave the country clandestinely.

The CAR is heavily dependent upon multilateral foreign aid and the presence of numerous NGOs, which provide numerous services the government fails to provide. The very presence of numerous foreign personnel and organizations in the country, including peacekeepers and even refugees, provides an important source of revenue for many Central Africans.

The country is self-sufficient in food crops, but much of the population lives at a subsistence level. Livestock development is hindered by the presence of the tsetse fly.

Export trade is hindered by poor economic development and the country's inland location.

The natural wilderness regions of this country had good potential as ecotourist destinations. The country is noted for its population of forest elephants. In the southwest, the Dzanga-Sangha National Park is a rainforest. To the north, the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park has been well populated with wildlife, including leopards, lions, and rhinos. However, the population of wildlife in these parks has severely diminished over the past twenty years due to poaching, particularly from neighboring Sudan.

Demographics

The population has tripled since independence. In 1960 the population was 1,232,000. The current population is at 4,303,356. (Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006 est.) )

The United Nations estimates that approximately 11% of the population ages 15 - 49 is HIV positive. Only 3% of the country has antiretroviral therapy available, compared to 17% coverage in neighbouring countries of Chad and the Republic of the Congo.

The nation is divided into over 80 ethnic groups, each having its own language. The largest ethnic groups are the Baya 33%, Banda 27%, Mandjia 13%, Sara 10%, Mboum 7%, M'Baka 4%, and Yakoma 4%, with 2% others, including Europeans. Religiously, about 35% of the population follows indigenous beliefs, 25% is Protestant, 25% is Roman Catholic, and 15% is Muslim.

Culture

Linguistic Affiliation. After colonization, the conquered people began to communicate in Sango, the pidgin that emerged quickly out of contacts between the diverse foreign Africans who were brought by the French—and the Belgians who preceded them in 1887— to be used as militia, workers and personal servants, and the inhabitants of the upper Ubangi River. By 1910, Sango had become a stable lingua franca spread by soldiers and others serving the whites. Never used by the French in a serious manner, the language was adopted in the early 1920s by Protestant missionaries and later by Roman Catholics as a religious language. Written material in Sango was first published by Protestants. Since independence, competence in spoken Sango has become almost universal except among the Mbororo. In Bangui, Sango is the most frequently used language even in households where an ethnic language is traditional. In 1996, Sango was declared co-official with French. It remains primarily a spoken language in government and education, while French is used in written communications.

Symbolism. The state's "linguistic unity" was declared in the constitution of 1986, and Sango's history Central African Republic Central African Republic of denigration by the French, ubiquity, and distinctness from co-territorial languages has made it the primary national symbol.

HISTORY AND ETHNIC RELATIONS

Emergence of the Nation. The plebiscite offered to its colonies by France initiated the steps taken toward independence. The CAR first became a member of the newly established French Community, eventually becoming a fully independent state in 1960.

Ethnic Relations. Barthélemy Boganda, the first president, had an ambitious view of French-speaking central Africa, but the government was controlled by riverine ethnic groups until the election of Ange-Félix Patassé, a person of mixed ethnicity from the populous northwest in 1993. The animosity between the riverine and grassland groups manifested in civil and military strife in 1996 in Bangui, can be traced to the earliest years of the territory. In most cases, however, members of indigenous and foreign ethnic groups get along satisfactorily.

Food in Daily Life. The staple is a doughlike mixture of processed and dried detoxified cassava (gozo) or sorghum. This is accompanied by a sauce made of vegetables, poultry, meat, or fish. Traditionally, beer was made from sorghum, although locally manufactured beer is now more common along with soft drinks. A hard liquor is made from cassava or sorghum. Chickens and goats in the villages are used as currency in marriages and as gifts and occasionally are sold for cash; wild game, killed in the dry-season grass-burning hunts, supplements the rural diet.

At roadside stands, bakery bread and homemade fried bread (makara), sandwiches, barbecued meat, and other snacks are sold by women. Restaurants are frequented mostly by expatriates. Coffee and tea, prepared with sugar and canned evaporated milk, are popular in urban centers.

The inhabitants of the forest area subsist on cassava, bananas, plantains, palm-nut-oil, forest caterpillars, and the leaf of a wild plant (koko). Individuals, in turn, bring these foods to Bangui to sell at the market. Protein is at a low level in the diet throughout the country.

Basic Economy. Central Africans are mostly self-sufficient, growing their own staples (manioc, sorghum, peanuts, sesame, corn, and squash), supplemented by wild tubers, leaves, and mushrooms.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Maria Petringa, Brazza, A Life for Africa (2006) ISBN 9781-4259-11980
• Culture of Central African Republic [1]
  • Cutter, Charles. 2006. Africa, 41st edition. Harpers Ferry, WV: Stryker-Post Publications. ISBN 1887985727

External links

• location of Central African Republic on a 3D globe (Java)
• Short memoir of civil violence in Central African Republic
• Safer Access - Briefing on security situation in CAR 20 Jan 06

Humanitarian Situation

• The Humanitarian Community in CAR - Central African Republic

News

• allAfrica - Central African Republic news headline links
• IRIN News for CAR, from the United Nations
• (French) Official website of Central African Republic

Overviews

• BBC News - Country Profile: Central African Republic
• CIA World Factbook - Central African Republic
• Report on Central African Republic's Army
• Reporter's Without Borders Report

Directories

• Open Directory Project - Central African Republic directory category
• Stanford University - Africa South of the Sahara: Central African Republic directory category
• The Index on Africa - Central African Republic directory category
• University of Pennsylvania - African Studies Center: Central African Republic directory category
• Yahoo! - Central African Republic directory category

Ethnic groups

• African Pygmies Culture and music of the first inhabitants of the Central African Republic, with photos and ethnographic notes

Tourism

• Travel guide to Central African Republic from Wikitravel

Geographic locale

Countries of Central Africa Burundi • Central African Republic • Chad • Democratic Republic of the Congo • Rwanda Countries of Africa Sovereign states Algeria · Angola · Benin · Botswana · Burkina Faso · Burundi · Cameroon · Cape Verde · Central African Republic · Chad · Democratic Republic of the Congo · Republic of the Congo · Comoros · Côte d'Ivoire · Djibouti · Egypt1 · Equatorial Guinea · Eritrea · Ethiopia · Gabon · The Gambia · Ghana · Guinea-Bissau · Guinea · Kenya · Lesotho · Liberia · Libya · Madagascar · Malawi · Mali · Mauritania · Mauritius · Morocco · Mozambique · Namibia · Niger · Nigeria · Rwanda · Senegal · Seychelles · Sierra Leone · Somalia · South Africa · Spain2 · Sudan · Swaziland · São Tomé and Príncipe · Tanzania · Togo · Tunisia · Uganda · Zambia · Zimbabwe Dependencies  |  Unrecognized British Indian Ocean Territory (UK) · French Southern and Antarctic Lands (France) · Mayotte (France) · Réunion (France) · St. Helena3 (UK)  |  Puntland · Somaliland · Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic 1 Partly in Asia.  2 Mostly in Europe.  3 Includes the dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha.

International membership

Template:Community of Sahel-Saharan States

Languages

Template:Afro-Asiatic-speaking nations Niger-Congo-speaking nations Kordofanian  Sudan Mande  Gambia  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Liberia  Côte d'Ivoire  Nigeria  Burkina Faso  Benin  Togo Atlantic-Congo Atlantic  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  CAR Ijoid  Nigeria  Chad  Côte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Guinea Dogon  Mali  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Niger  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Sudan  Togo Volta-Congo Senufo  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Mali Gur  Benin  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Mali  Nigeria  Togo Adamawa-Ubangi  Cameroon  CAR  Chad  Nigeria Kru  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Liberia Kwa  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Nigeria  Togo Benue-Congo Bantu  Angola  Botswana  Burundi  Cameroon  DRC Yoruba and Igbo  Nigeria  Rep. of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Kenya  Nigeria  Malawi  Mozambique  Namibia  Rwanda  Somalia  South Africa  Swaziland  Tanzania  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe CAR = Central African Republic DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

• Central African Republic  ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

• History of "Central African Republic"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.