West and Central Africa — Central African Republic Situation Monthly Dashboard 10 (July 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 July 2023, 3,831,877 individuals were affected, including 485,825 internally displaced persons (13% of the displaced population), 2,063,885 returnees former IDPs (54%), 503,019 returnees from abroad (13%) and 779,148 refugees (20%). In the CAR, the largest displaced population consists of former IDP returnees. Refugees from the CAR are primarily hosted by Cameroon (350,428 individuals, or 45% of the refugees), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (210,552 individuals, or 27% of the refugees) and Chad (127,934 individuals, or 16% of the refugees). Nonetheless, 24,370 refugees from the Central African Republic are still living in Sudan (3% of the refugees). Since the beginning of the Sudan crisis, a total of 4,071 Central Africans have returned to their country of origin through the border in Am-Dafock, representing 4 per cent of returns from abroad. In addition, the CAR is also home for refugees from neighbouring countries, hosting a total of 33,209 refugees coming from Sudan (22,768 individuals), the DRC (6,384 individuals), South Soudan (2,726 individuals) and Chad (1,331 individuals).