West and Central Africa — Central African Republic Situation Monthly Dashboard 18 (March 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 March 2024, 4,035,261 individuals were affected, including 520,060 internally displaced persons (13% of the displaced population), 2,196,858 returnees former IDPs (54%), 528,521 returnees from abroad (13%) and 789,822 refugees (20%). In the CAR, the largest displaced population consists of former IDP returnees. Refugees from the CAR are primarily hosted by Cameroon (354,725 individuals, or 47% of the refugees), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (212,211 individuals, or 28% of the refugees) and Chad (134,184 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 34,012 refugees coming from Sudan (23,308 individuals), the DRC (6,425 individuals), South Soudan (2,786 individuals) and Chad (1,493 individuals).