The Central African Republic (CAR) has a long history of political strife that frequently has led to coups and human rights abuses. Yet the current chaos and fighting following the March 2013 coup against former President Fran-coise Bozizé is uniquely dangerous, as it increasingly is centered around re-ligious identity and risks pulling the country into an intractable Muslim-Christian conflict. If these forces are not contained, severe human rights abuses are expected to be increasingly perpetrated along religious and ethnic lines.

To learn more about the current situation in the Central African Republic, see USCIRF's CAR Policy Brief here .