Policy Update: Central African Republic Factsheet

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The Central African Republic (CAR) has a long history of political strife, coups, severe human rights abuses, and underdevelopment. Despite this, sectarian violence and targeted killing based on religious identity are new to the majority-Christian country. The ongoing conflict started after the 2013 coup by a coalition of Muslim-majority militias and has resulted in thousands of people dead, 2.2 million in need of humanitarian assistance, more than 480,000 refugees, and more than 500,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). Before 2012, 85 percent of CAR’s population was Christian and 15 percent was Muslim. By the end of 2014, 80 percent of the country’s Muslim population had been driven out of CAR.