Central African Republic Crisis

Central African Republic Map
Source: OCHA/ReliefWeb

The country

The Central African Republic, gaining independence from France in 1960, is a landlocked country within the interior of the African continent. The central African country borders Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon. Its capital is Bangui. The Central African Republic covers a land area of 622,984 square kilometers. As of 2025, the country has an estimated population of around 5.3 million people. The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the world’s poorest and least developed states.

The humanitarian situation

The Central African Republic (CAR) has been among the most neglected humanitarian crises for several years in a row. The country has been wracked by violent conflict since 2012. Nearly half of its population – 45 percent – requires humanitarian aid in 2025. While insecurity and violence against civilians continue to force Central Africans to flee their homes, humanitarian and development actors are helping many internally displaced persons and refugees to resume a normal life after several years of displacement.

Over the past two years, the humanitarian situation in CAR has improved significantly as security has improved in some areas, allowing more than 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) to be integrated locally or returned to their areas of origin since 2022. 

Despite certain security gains in different parts of the country, the overall security situation remains worrisome in certain areas, particularly in the northwest, the east and, to a lesser extent, in the center of the country. Clashes between parties to the conflict and attacks on civilians and infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, continue.

One in five Central Africans remains displaced either internally or externally, mainly to neighboring countries, due to conflict, violence, lack of basic services and extreme weather events. The total number of displaced people stands at more than 1.15 million, with more than 676,000 refugees in neighboring countries and some 470,000 people internally displaced (as of January 2025).

With one-fifth of its population forced to flee, the Central African Republic is the country with the third highest level of forced displacement in Africa, after South Sudan and Sudan. Most refugees have fled to Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For more than a decade, CAR has been affected by conflict, with the continued presence of armed groups. Violence against civilians, including attacks on health care and gender-based violence (GBV), other violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, and the impact of natural disasters linked to climate change, such as flooding, continue to cause new displacement.

According to CARE International, the situation in the Central African Republic is among the world's forgotten crises that received the least media attention last year. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) identified the situation in CAR as one of the most neglected displacement crises globally in 2023.

Since mid-April 2023, following the war that erupted in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the CAR has been hosting thousands of Sudanese refugees, most of whom arrive through the Am-dafock border crossing in the Vakaga region of CAR.

As of March 2025, more than 40,000 refugees - 86 percent of them women and children - have arrived from Sudan. The ongoing conflict in Sudan continues to drive refugee influxes into CAR. In February, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned of an imminent aid shortage for Sudanese refugees in CAR and called for US$14.8 million to support more than 30,000 refugees and host communities in 2025.

Humanitarian needs in the country remain high, despite recent improvements in the security situation. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), approximately 38 percent of the country's population is extremely vulnerable, to the extent "that humanitarian assistance alone will not be enough for their well-being."

Primarily due to the consequences of the armed conflict that has been going on for more than thirteen years, as well as the effects of the ongoing war in Sudan and the growing insecurity in the border region with Chad, humanitarian needs will remain high in 2025.

With about 40 percent of the population not eating enough, CAR has one of the highest proportions of critically food-insecure people in the world.  

Between September 2024 and March 2025, about 2 million people are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity - classified as IPC Phase 3 or worse. Nearly 1.7 million people are at crisis levels (IPC Phase 3), and 307,000 people face emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4). People in IPC Phase 4 require immediate action to save lives, protect their livelihoods and reduce food consumption gaps. 

The situation is expected to worsen between April and August 2025. Approximately 2.25 million people - about 42 percent of the population - are projected to experience crisis levels of hunger (IPC Phase 3) or worse. During that period, about 1.82 million people are estimated to be in Phase 3 and about 431,000 people are estimated to be in Phase 4.

According to the latest available figures for 2024, some 177,000 children under five years old and over 162,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women were estimated to suffer from acute malnutrition. Over 45,000 children were estimated to suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Central African Republic is one of the worst places in the world to be a child, with "every single one of CAR's three million children at risk".  UNICEF reports that one in two children has no access to health services, and only one-third of children attend school regularly. Nearly two out of three young women are married before the age of 18.

CAR has one of the lowest life expectancies in the world at only 54 years. Infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world, and pregnant women are at high risk of death or serious illness due to a lack of gynecologists. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the CAR Ministry of Health, less than half of health care facilities in the country are fully operational, and there are 0.6 doctors for every 10,000 people - one of the lowest ratios in the world. 

Flooding from both rain and rivers remains a constant risk for several parts of the country, overshadowing other types of humanitarian shocks and vulnerabilities. In 2024, at least 32,000 people were hit by flooding. In 2023, more than 85,000 people were affected by floods, a slight decrease compared to the previous year. More than 100,000 people were exposed to flooding in 2022.

In 2025, 2.4 million people in the Central African Republic are in need of humanitarian aid, including approximately 1.1 million children. The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in 2025 is more than 14 percent lower than in 2024, due in part to improvements in the situation and a more rigorous analysis of humanitarian needs by aid agencies. 

Humanitarian agencies aim to reach 1.8 million of the most vulnerable Central Africans, for which they require US$326.1 million, an 11 percent decrease from the funding requested in 2024. 

In 2024, there were 2.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in the Central African Republic, a decrease of 18 percent compared to 2023. In that year, 3.4 million people, including around 1.4 million children, were in need of humanitarian relief. In 2024, humanitarian agencies reached 1.7 million women, men and children, according to OCHA. 

The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for the Central African Republic sought US$ 367.7 million to support 1.9 million of the most vulnerable people this year. As of March 2025, the Plan was only 62 percent funded. 

In 2023, humanitarian agencies provided life-saving assistance to 2 million women, men and children, according to OCHA. In 2022, humanitarian actors delivered aid to 1.9 million people.

In 2023, humanitarian organizations in the Central African Republic planned to assist 2.4 million most vulnerable people. The United Nations and humanitarian partners had appealed for US$ 533 million to help those in need last year. As of January 2024, the 2023 HRP for the Central African Republic was only 56 percent covered.
 

Central African Republic LocationThe security situation

The security situation in the Central African Republic remains precarious, marked by ongoing armed conflicts, displacement, and instability. Despite efforts to promote peace and reconciliation, including international support and peace agreements, the country still grapples with the influence of armed groups and external actors.

The 2013 seizure of the capital by armed groups and the ousting of President François Bozizé sparked a prolonged crisis. While elections in 2016 and a peace agreement in 2019 showed some progress, the underlying issues of armed group control and regional violence have persisted.

Faustin Archange Touadera, former prime minister of the Central African Republic, was declared the winner of the presidential election in 2016, and is still in office.

Elections in 2020 exacerbated the situation, leading to a resurgence of violence. These challenges underscore the difficulty in achieving lasting peace, as the country continues to be heavily impacted by militia groups, foreign mercenaries, and the power struggles between factions.

In 2014, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of a multidimensional UN peacekeeping mission with the protection of civilians as its first priority. The mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) includes facilitating humanitarian assistance, promoting and protecting human rights, supporting justice and the rule of law, and supporting disarmament, demobilization, reintegration, and repatriation processes.

Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Organization - a Russian private military security firm with apparent ties to the Russian government - have been deployed in the country. While officially in CAR to serve as military instructors, the UN has so far identified several cases in which these mercenaries have engaged in active warfare and have been implicated in human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law.

Map of the Central African Republic

With presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 2025, the future remains uncertain. The hope is that the international community and local stakeholders can work towards a more stable and peaceful CAR, but the path torward will require substantial commitment to both security reforms and addressing the root causes of conflict.

In 2022, the Central African Armed Forces consolidated their control over major urban centers. In rural areas, however, armed groups continue to engage in robbery, looting, illegal taxation, and extortion. Armed groups and government forces were involved in violent incidents and human rights abuses against civilians. In 2022, there were new displacements in areas where violent clashes occurred, while return movements of displaced persons continued to be concentrated in urban areas.

In 2023, clashes between non-state armed groups and attacks against the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) aggravated the humanitarian situation in many regions and led to massive displacement. Violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law were widespread.

Although the security situation in CAR has improved significantly between 2023 and 2024, the country remains highly unstable. Fighting between parties to the conflict has decreased in intensity, but inter-party clashes and attacks on civilians and infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals, continue.

Violence and attacks against humanitarian workers and UN peacekeepers also continue. While relief agencies are working to support people affected by the conflict, ongoing fighting and logistical constraints have hampered humanitarian efforts, particularly in the more remote areas of the country. CAR remains one of the most dangerous countries for humanitarian workers.

A large proportion of the population of the Central African Republic continues to face a humanitarian crisis, particularly in areas outside urban centers. Furthermore, household stress due to food insecurity and the adoption of negative coping mechanisms has led to an increase in gender-based violence. 

Donations

Your donation for the Central African Republic emergency can help United Nations agencies, international humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their local partners to rapidly provide water, food, medicine, shelter and other aid to the people who need it most.

To find other organizations to which you can donate, visit: Humanitarian Crisis Relief, Refugees and IDPs, Children in Need, Hunger and Food Insecurity, Medical Humanitarian Aid, Vulnerable Groups, Faith-Based Humanitarian Organizations, and Human Rights Organizations.

Further Information

Last updated: 07/03/2025

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