Background

Peace efforts persisted through intermittent dialogue with armed groups. By 31 May, around 446,722 people were internally displaced.

President Faustin-Archange Touadéra ran for a third term in the December elections.

Unlawful attacks and killings

Government forces and their allies

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) reported that on 21 January members of the Wagner Ti Azandé (WTA) militia surrounded a camp housing Fulani community members, near the town of Mboki in Haut-Mbomou prefecture. They separated the men from the women and children, and the next day they shot at the men, and then at the women and children, killing at least 12 people, including six children. Several WTA members, including leaders, were arrested for the killings.

In April government forces and allied units reportedly arrested and tortured civilians, and burned around 20 houses during operations against the Anti-Balaka armed group in and around Yadé in Ouham-Pendé prefecture.

Armed groups

According to the UN secretary-general’s June report, armed groups committed widespread abuses nationwide. Between 14 February and 9 March, near Bozoum in Ouham-Pendé prefecture, clashes involving transhumant herders, suspected members of the Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R) armed group and local self-defence groups, killed at least 20 civilians and displaced about 10,000.

Between 25 and 28 February, 3R attacks in Lim-Pendé prefecture, along the Nzoro-Bocaranga-Bohong axis, left 13 civilians dead and hundreds of homes burned. Meanwhile, Anti-Balaka and 3R members located around mining sites and transhumant corridors subjected civilians to killings, abduction and extortion.

Between 27 March and 6 May in the towns of Mboki, Obo and Zémio in Haut-Mbomou prefecture, suspected Azande Ani Kpi Gbé members targeted civilians of the Fulani community, killing two women and two children and abducting one person. On 28 March they ambushed a MINUSCA patrol near Tabane village, killing a Kenyan peacekeeper.

Women’s and girls’ rights

In May, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) said that US government aid cuts jeopardized sexual and reproductive health services for nearly 70,000 women and girls, amid high levels of reported rape, child marriage and female genital mutilation.

Gender-based violence

The UN reported that conflict-related gender-based violence remained widespread and under-reported. Between 2 February and 1 October, MINUSCA logged 295 conflict-related sexual violence incidents, for which 3R members were the main alleged perpetrators, followed by government forces.

Reports of sexual violence, trafficking and forced marriage increased in Korsi refugee camp in Birao. Less than one third of survivors received medical or psycho-social care within 72 hours. The cuts forced the closure of two UNFPA-supported survivors’ clinics.

Right to truth, justice and reparation

In February, Armel Sayo, former leader of the Revolution and Justice armed group, was charged with rebellion, war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the activities of the Military Coalition for the Salvation of the People and Recovery, an armed group that he established in 2024. He awaited trial and, according to MINUSCA in July, was detained in an undisclosed location.

In June, the Special Criminal Court convicted six former members of the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic armed group for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Four of them were tried in their absence, highlighting a persistent failure to implement arrest warrants.

In July, ICC judges sentenced former Anti-Balaka leaders Alfred Yékatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona to 15 and 12 years’ imprisonment, respectively, after convicting them for multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 2013 and 2014.

Freedom of expression

According to Reporters Without Borders, editor Ulrich Landry Nguéma Ngokpélé was arrested on 8 May and transferred to Ngaragba prison on 14 May for an article he published about the alleged return to the country of exiled former president, François Bozizé. Charges against him included inciting hatred against the government and dissemination of information intending to disturb public order. He faced up to 15 years’ imprisonment. In August he was provisionally released. In May the National Assembly adopted a revised press and communication law. The communication minister said the law would modernize, regulate and protect the industry. Media workers denounced the law as an attempt to muzzle the press, reintroduce undue criminal penalties, and broaden liability up the editorial chain to editors-in-chief and publishers.

Enforced disappearances

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances reviewed the Central African Republic’s first periodic report in March. It recommended that the government make enforced disappearance an autonomous offence in line with the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearance; introduce independent monitoring of all detention facilities; and ensure prompt and impartial investigations, protection of complainants and witnesses, and full rights to truth, justice and reparation for victims.

Inhumane detention conditions

According to the UN secretary-general’s June report, access to medical care, food and water remained limited in prisons due to staffing and resource shortages. Overcrowding worsened and according to UN monitoring, Ngaragba Central Prison was operating at 329% over capacity, with more than 65% of its inmates in pretrial detention. In response, a November presidential decree aimed to reduce some prisoners’ sentences.