Genocide-mongering does nothing to help us understand the messy dynamics of conflict in the CAR

After Michel Djotodia’s removal from the presidency of the Central African Republic (CAR) on the 10th January, speculation and rumours about his successor were rife. Would it be Josué Binua, who had been a minister under Djotodia but was previously a confidant of the ousted Jean-François Bozizé? No, it soon became clear — members of the newly-resigned government were excluded from consideration. This was fortunate. The choice of Binua, an evangelical preacher, at a time when religion has become politicized in new ways in the CAR, would not augur well for building trust after the past year’s violence. The strictness and extensiveness of the presidential criteria left some joking that they would exclude almost everyone.

Almost, but not quite. On Sunday night, members of the National Assembly elected Catherine Samba-Panza, Mayor of Bangui and a businesswoman and lawyer. Diplomats and aid workers knew Samba-Panza as a founder of the Association des Femmes Juristes Centrafricains (AFJC), an organization they tripped over each other in a race to fund. Unlike many other civil society organizations, the AFJC had developed its own capacity to manage and develop projects, all supporting the rights of women.

Whether Samba-Panza’s election will be a silver lining to these months of strife is still unknown. Someone with her background would never have been elected in other circumstances. Recent elections in CAR have been far from free and fair, and they accord a huge structural advantage to the incumbent, so relative outsiders like Samba-Panza find it hard to develop constituencies.

Samba-Panza is the first woman to lead the CAR, a country in which powerful women face particular challenges. To give just one example of the complicated, little-studied workings of gender and power in the CAR: the HIV rate among professional women is one in four, as compared to about one in sixteen in the population as a whole, or one in four among men in the security forces.

French soldier wears Nazi slogan on uniform in Central African Republic

French military chiefs have launched an investigation to after a soldier serving in the Central African Republic was pictured wearing a Nazi slogan on his uniform.

The man, reportedly from an elite parachute regiment, was photographed in fatigues carrying his rifle. On the right sleeve of his uniform was sewn a round patch carrying the number 32 on a French flag and the words "Meine Ehre heisst Treue" ("my honour is loyalty"). The motto was used by Nazi Waffen-SS soldiers during the second world war and is banned in a number of countries including Germany and Austria.

Embarrassingly, the photograph was part of a series posted on the French army's official external operations Facebook page before it was taken down.

Video: Colonial France trying to save its face as former gendarme in Africa - Press TV

France is once again using a sudden outbreak of violence in an African state as a pretext to intervene there militarily. This time round, clashes between Christian gunmen and Muslim fighters in the Central African Republic are cited by Paris as the reason for military action in its former colony. But as the following report tries to find out, there could be more to the repeated French military deployments in Africa than just humanitarian grounds.

Video: French colonial troops continue ops in CAR, capture town - Press TV

France is pressing ahead with its military operations in the Central African Republic. French troops have now captured the town of Bossangoa in the north of the capital Bangui.

France claims the aim of the mission is to create stability in the country in order to allow humanitarian aid to reach violence-hit areas. France is sending 1-thousand 600 troops to its former colony to end the communal violence there. The bloodshed began when Christian militias -- who support ousted president Francois Bozize -- attacked several Muslim neighborhoods. The Red Cross says scores of people have lost their lives.

What’s really behind France’s sudden scramble to save Central Africa

Is it a colonial hangover, or is it about mineral interests? Let’s find out…

This week the United Nations Security Council has announced sanctions against the Central African Republic (CAR) and has also given the French a big green light to use its military, as well as spearhead African Union forces in order to put down violence and restore “security, law and order” in the former French colony.

French President Francois Hollande announced “immediate” action yesterday, deploying 250 new army troops to join an already existing 600 troops currently stationed in that country.

UK in talks with France over providing support for the occupation of Central African Republic (CAR)

London says it is in talks with Paris over offering “limited logistical support” to France for its military operations in the Central African Republic (CAR).

“Following the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) agreement to strengthen the role of international forces in the CAR, the UK is in discussions with France about providing limited logistical support,” Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in a statement on Thursday.