West and Central Africa — Central African Republic Situation Monthly Dashboard 15 (December 2023)

The Central African Republic (CAR), which has experienced continuous volatility for the past two decades, has been riddled by a crisis which ignited in 2012 with a violent takeover of power and has developed into a complex protracted state of permanent insecurity and fragility which has spilled over into neighbouring countries. The crisis is characterized by power struggles amongst elites, the absence of state institutions and public investment, religious and ethnic tensions and disputes for the control of key resources. More recently, the crisis in Sudan, which started in April 2023, is affecting the eastern part of the CAR witnessing arrivals of displaced populations.

As of December 2023, 3,926,402 individuals were affected, including 504,992 internally displaced persons (13% of the displaced population), 2,125,798 returnees former IDPs (54%), 513,037 returnees from abroad (13%) and 782,575 refugees (20%). In the CAR, the largest displaced population consists of former IDP returnees. Refugees from the CAR are primarily hosted by Cameroon (353,701 individuals, or 47% of the refugees), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (212,217 individuals, or 28% of the refugees) and Chad (130,044 individuals, or 17% of the refugees).