Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Constitution of the Central African Republic (CAR) was approved by referendum on 13 December 2015 and promulgated on 30 March 2016. This fundamental legal text marked the end of a political crisis that began with the violent takeover by mostly Muslim Seleka rebels in March 2013. The new Constitution replaced the Transitional Charter (Charte de la Transition) that was put in place in July 2013.
The Preamble of the 2016 Constitution recognises the “ethnic, cultural and religious diversity” of the Central African people, “which contribute[s] to the enrichment of their personality”. Article 10 guarantees “freedom of conscience, of assembly, of religion and of beliefs” and forbids “any form of religious fundamentalism [intégrisme] and intolerance”. Article 24 proclaims the secular character of the state.
All religious denominations have the right to broadcast a weekly program on state radio (Radio Centrafrique) and to operate their own radio stations. Bangui-based Radio Nôtre Dame, which is Catholic, and Radio Voix de l’Évangile (known previously as Radio Nehemie), which is Protestant, are the main confessional radio stations. Some other Catholic stations broadcast freely. Radio Siriri, in Bouar, and Radio Maria Be Africa, in Bossangoa, have a large following. Radio Maria has also been broadcasting in Bangui since the end of 2013.
The CAR signed a framework agreement with the Holy See on 6 September 2016, which entered into force on 5 March 2019. It established a juridical framework for the relations between Church and State in which both entities, safeguarding their autonomy, committed themselves to cooperating for the common good as well as the moral, social, cultural, and material well-being of all citizens.
According to Catholic hierarchy, the agreement’s implementation is still incomplete. The authorities stated that “a follow-up juridical document” had to be drafted and given legal course. The issue was still pending in late 2022.
During Central African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (Conférence Episcopale Centrafricaine, CECA) plenary meeting in January 2020, the bishops presented a list of priority topics to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but by September 2022, no answer had been received. Among other issues, there are long delays in granting residence permits for expatriate missionaries, and high fees make it difficult for religious congregations to bring in non-CAR personnel.
Religious groups, other than those who hold indigenous religious beliefs, are required to register with the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security. To engage in this procedure, they must prove that they have a minimum of 1000 members and that their leaders have adequate religious training, as evaluated by the ministry.
According to the law, this registration could be denied to any religious group if it is offensive to public morals and public health and/or is responsible for disturbing the social peace. The procedure is free and confers official recognition and certain benefits, such as customs duty exemptions for vehicles or equipment. There are no penalties for groups that fail to register.
The latest religious denomination to register was the Russian Orthodox Church, officially approved by the Ministry of Territorial Administration on 4 July 2022. Around this time, the Russian Orthodox Church established a church in Bangui’s city centre. For many observers, this is part of the growing Russian influence in the country, which has been increasing since 2017.
New religious groups, particularly Pentecostal or “born-again” Christian Churches, have been coming to the CAR over the last few years, holding religious services without any difficulties. In some cases, official government buildings, like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bangui, are used for public religious ceremonies.
Religious education is not compulsory but is available in most schools. The Catholic Church has a network of schools in all the nine dioceses of the country, coordinated by the Associated Central African Catholic Schools (Écoles Catholiques Associées en Centrafrique, ÉCAC), based on a memorandum of understanding signed with the Ministry of Education. Expatriate personnel working under ÉCAC are granted a free residence permit. The state-run University of Bangui has a Catholic chaplaincy next to its campus, operated by the Jesuits, with a wide range of pastoral and cultural activities.
The main Christian festivities are public holidays: Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Assumption of Our Lady, All Saints, and Christmas. The state also recognises the Muslim festivities of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Kebir as public holidays. Over the last few years, it has become customary for high-ranking government officials (almost all Christians) to attend public prayers in mosques in Bangui and the country’s various prefectures during these two main Muslim feasts.
Incidents and developments
According to the UN, the Central African Republic is “the second least developed country in the world” where “only 14.3% of the more than 5 million inhabitants have access to electricity” [...] “71% of whom live below the international poverty line” and “more than half are in need of humanitarian assistance”. Adding misery to the destitution was the unrelenting violence experienced by the population during the period under review.
Since December 2020, grave human rights violations have been reported during the government offensive against rebels led by the Patriotic Coalition for Change (Coalition des Patriots pour le Changement (CPC). Muslim civilians were particularly targeted by authorities and their Russian mercenary allies.
The 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom published by the US Department of State highlighted that, according to the United Nations, government forces and their allies were responsible for 46 percent of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law between June 2020 and June 2021. The same report stated that “attacks by the government’s armed forces and their allies against Muslim communities increased between February and June 2021”.
Despite these international publications, the response from the CAR government has so far been one of consistent denial, dismissing such reports as attempts to tarnish the image of the country’s security forces and their allies.
According to CNN and the investigative group The Sentry, 14 people were killed on 16 February 2021 at a mosque in Bambari when government forces recaptured the city from the CPC. During the assault, Wagner Group forces and members of the Central African Armed Forces (Forces armées centrafricaines, FACA) reportedly raped, tortured, and killed Muslim civilians. Since then, Bambari has remained a hotspot of tensions.
Despite these allegations, according to the Chairman of the Islamic High Council (Conseil Supérieur Islamique de Centrafrique) Abdoulaye Wasselegue (Ouasselegue), there is neither discrimination nor persecution against Muslims in the country. He attributed the alleged targeting of mostly Muslim Fulani to the fact that many of them joined rebel groups that are members of the CPC, such as the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (Unité pour la paix en Centrafrique, UPC) and the 3R group, Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (Retour, Réclamation et Réhabilitation).
However, prominent Muslim leader, Ali Ousmane, Chairman of the Central African Muslim Organisations Coordination (Coordination des Organisations Musulmans in Centrafrique, COMUC), an advocacy group that defends the rights of Muslims, declared that the religious community is clearly targeted. In an interview with a Dutch journalist, Ousmane said: “We have several witnesses who saw Muslims being arrested and executed by the Russians. [...] Some of our soldiers work with them and do that sort of thing as well. They grab women, tie their hands. Sometimes put a bag over their heads. Then they get thrown in a car and a few minutes later they are dead. [...] Nobody says anything because everyone fears for their safety.”
The United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries released a statement in March 2021 that expressed alarm over abuses by Russian military groups in several countries, including the CAR.
On 18 January 2021, the Catholic Bishops conference, upon confirmation by the Constitutional Court of the victory of President Faustin-Archange Touadéra in the 27 December 2020 elections stated that this did not “resolve the fragility of an election where only 35% of the voters were able to express their preference”. The bishops renewed a call for dialogue stating: "We have been living in a political-military crisis for eight years" [...] "We call for a sincere and frank, fraternal and constructive dialogue, to find a just and lasting peace, rejecting hatred, violence and a spirit of revenge”.
On 19 January 2022, the Bishops Conference of the Central African Republic issued a statement denouncing the plundering of the nation’s natural resources by “foreigners with the complicity of some of our compatriots”. Central African Republic, in addition to gold, timber and diamonds, is home to “cassiterite, iron, manganese, copper, or so-called rare earths, essential components for the digital and green economy”. This exploitation, according to the bishops, leads to “Corruption, illicit enrichment, mismanagement, incompetence and lack of professional ethics in some state services”. The “abuse of authority and injustice” are symptoms of a “crisis of moral values” which principally affects children exploited by "dishonest adults” [...] who take advantage of the “naivety of children and exploit them for sexual purposes, thus mortgaging their youth and their future”.
On 7 March 2022, the chairman of the High Communication Council (Haut Conseil de la Communication), José Richard Pouambi, issued a written warning to the Les Collines de l’Ougangui newspaper after it published several defamatory articles against the Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga, who was accused, without evidence, of having mismanaged funds (F.CFA 82 billion) ostensibly earmarked for victims of the 1996–1997 army riots. The warning stated that the newspaper had seriously breached professional ethics and was required to publish the council’s decision.
Starting in April 2022, a campaign to revise the 2016 Constitution gained momentum. President Faustin-Archange Touadera eventually appointed a 50-member committee in August with a mandate to draft a new Constitution.
On 30 June 2022, the Bishops Conference of the Central African Republic issued a statement at the end of their Plenary Assembly in which they drew attention how the country was at the “center of a complex plot” whereby the presence of “various guerrilla groups and foreign (Rwandan) soldiers and Russian mercenaries [...] working alongside the Rwandans and the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) for the re-conquest of the entire extension of the national territory and for the pacification of the Central African Republic, today place our country in a rather delicate position”. The bishops drew attention to the collateral risks including a food crisis and a shortage of fuel. The Central African Bishops recalled the horrors inflicted on the civilian population including “human and material destruction, abuse, rape and violation of human rights, destruction of property, places of worship and exploitation of religious beliefs”.
On 29 August 2022, the Central African Bishops’ Conference released a communiqué signed by its President, Bishop Nestor-Désiré Nongo-Aziagbia Bossangoa, in which it declined the seat earmarked for the Catholic Church on the Drafting Committee for a New Constitution in the Central African Republic. In the document, the Conference thanked President Touadéra for the consideration shown to the Catholic Church; nonetheless, it considered that the process should have been initiated through a broad-based public consultation to ensure popular support for the initiative. As this prerequisite was not met, the Conference said that it would not join the drafting committee. As soon as the communiqué was made public, social media platforms like Facebook were inundated with accusations by people close to the ruling party against the Catholic Church. One read: “The Central African clergy, paid by France, has plunged the country in an ocean of blood, massacres, and torched houses and villages”.
Prospects for freedom of religion
Since independence in 1960, the Central African Republic is in its sixth Republic having experienced five coups and eight Constitutions. Most of the population is under 18 having known only conflict, as peace has not visited the country in more than 25 years.
Notwithstanding the dire humanitarian situation, during the period under review no significant cases of discrimination or persecution against Christians were reported. Considering that in previous years, particularly in 2018, armed groups associated with former Seleka rebels attacked Christians in their places of worship and killed Catholic priests (five in 2018), the situation for Christians is better than it was, and that the prospects for religious freedom appear to be improved. However, the failure to implement the framework agreement between the Holy See and the CAR, particularly its provisions concerning the residence status of expatriate clergy, remains a serious issue.
In contrast, the situation for Muslims is far worse now than it was in previous years. Allegations of discrimination and violence against Muslims by both CAR forces and foreign mercenaries, whose activities have generally been denied or ignored by government authorities, reinforces a sense of impunity and raises fears that some opportunistic leaders may take advantage of feelings of stigmatisation and alienation in Muslim groups to foster extremism. The full enjoyment of religious freedom by CAR citizens is again called into question and should be kept under observation.
CAR