West and Central Africa — Central African Republic Situation Monthly Dashboard 16 (January 2024)

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 January 2024, 3,937,845 individuals were affected, including 512,805 internally displaced persons (13% of the displaced population), 2,125,798 returnees former IDPs (54%), 513,037 returnees from abroad (13%) and 786,205 refugees (20%). In the CAR, the largest displaced population consists of former IDP returnees. Refugees from the CAR are primarily hosted by Cameroon (354,139 individuals, or 47% of the refugees), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (211,774 individuals, or 28% of the refugees) and Chad (133,495 individuals, or 18% of the refugees). Nonetheless, 18,279 refugees from the Central African Republic are still living in Sudan (2% of the refugees). Since the beginning of the Sudan crisis, a total of 41,795 individuals have entered the CAR. Indeed, the country is home for refugees from neighbouring countries, hosting a total of 32,442 refugees coming from Sudan (21,816 individuals), the DRC (6,411 individuals), South Soudan (2,726 individuals) and Chad (1,489 individuals).