Somalilandsun – Landlocked Central African Republic (CAR) has for years experienced one of the most silent and forgotten emergencies in the world, according to the United Nations
The government has little presence or control outside the capital after years of instability and a history of frequent coups and mutinies.
The most recent coup took place in March 2013, when fighters from the Seleka rebel alliance ousted President Francois Bozize, accusing him of failing to uphold his end of a January 2013 peace deal.
It triggered widespread violence across the country, fears of possible genocide to come, and caused the U.N. Security Council to authorise international troops to use force if necessary to protect civilians.
Even before the coup, tens of thousands of people were displaced every year by rebel attacks, clashes between nomadic cattle herders and residents and marauding criminal gangs who thrive on the country’s lawlessness.
The education system and health services are in tatters after years of fighting, and the country’s life expectancy, child mortality and HIV rates are among the worst in the world.
Despite an abundance of diamonds, uranium and gold, it is one of the poorest states in Africa.
