AfDB-Central African Republic Partnership

More than 2,000 ex-Seleka combatants at three camp sites in Bangui, Central African Republic, are given food assistance. Reintegrating ex-combatants into the community is one of the African Development Bank’s priorities in the country. Photo by: Catianne Tijerina / United Nations / CC BY-NC-ND The Central African Republic has been mired in conflict for years, despite two peace treaties. An escalation of violence led many development agencies to suspend operations and pull out staff from the combat-weary country. In March 2013, the Muslim Seleka rebel alliance staged a coup d’etat that forced then President Francois Bozize to flee the country. Alliance leader Michel Djotodia was then installed as CAR’s new president. But the regime change did little to end the political crisis. Nor did it inspire foreign donors to resume development support for the country. The African Development Bank was among those that suspended operations in the Central African Republic that year. Not only did AfDB evacuate international staff from its severely damaged office in the capital city, Bangui, the bank also put local staff on leave and canceled the adoption of its 2013-2017 development assistance strategy for CAR. But with sectarian violence seriously damaging property and infrastructure, and displacing and killing thousands of citizens, CAR’s development partners drafted a strategy early this year to provide humanitarian assistance to the strife-torn country and deploy peacekeeping forces to stabilize the situation there. As part of the collective response to support CAR’s peace and transition process, AfDB formulated an interim strategy for 2014 to 2016. Considering the fragility of the country and the urgency of the situation, the bank adopted a multidimensional, innovative and flexible approach in implementing the strategy to effectively address the crisis. Funding levels Before AfDB ceased its operations in Bangui, there were 11 national and two regional projects amounting to $195.73 million. These projects were mainly in the transport, energy, water and sanitation sectors. The bank assessed this portfolio before it resumed operations in the country this year. Among the 11 projects that were put on hold, six were deemed relevant and approved to continue implementation. Under the three-year interim strategy, AfDB will provide $152.56 million to the Central African Republic, of which $80.63 million will be used to finance new projects and $71.93 million to resume stalled operations. Below are some of the projects that will be funded during this period. In addition to financial support, AfDB will provide an analytical work program to help the government in planning the post-interim transition stage. Funding priorities Bangui’s development partners realized that not engaging in the country was a costly move that isolated CAR from the rest of the world, resulting in ethnic and religious violence, total lawlessness, and the collapse of the state and public administration. The risk that violence would spillover from the landlocked country to neighboring states was great as well. AfDB’s interim strategy has been aligned with government agenda and with the bank’s 10-year strategy for fragile states. The bank’s overall goals for the period are to provide a quick-response mechanism to addressing the needs of the population and to restore stability during the transition. The transition hinges on two pillars. The first pillar is to improve basic services delivery by rehabilitating the country’s socio-economic and public utility infrastructure. AfDB will provide essential goods and services to groups most affected by the crisis, focusing on the provision of water, sanitation and electricity facilities and services, and construction of rural roads. The bank will also prioritize providing greater economic opportunities for women and the youth, and reintegrating ex-combatants into the workforce. The second pillar aims to restore institutional capacity and promote good governance. The bank aims to resume central and local government activities and services under this pillar. Priority will be given to the return and redeployment of government workers in general admission and sector services, and the reestablishment of a more transparent and secure government. The strategy is divided in two phases. The first phase will run through 2015 and will focus on improving the security situation in Bangui and its suburbs. During this phase, stalled projects and budget support will be resumed, capacity-building activities will be implemented, and the Support Program for Reconstruction of Grass-roots Community, or PARCB, will be launched. The second phase will take place during the interim strategy period’s last year, when the second stage of PARCB will be rolled out in newly secured provinces. Governance-strengthening activities will be implemented during this phase as well. Devex analysis The United Nations has classified only four countries under the “Level 3 Emergency” status — the highest designation for countries in crisis: Somalia, South Sudan, Iraq and the Central African Republic. Being designated a Level 3 country is supposed to help generate more resources and fast-track administrative procedures to be able to respond quickly and more effectively to the crisis. But CAR has consistently received among the lowest levels of development assistance. In 2011 and 2012, Somalia, South Sudan and Iraq each received between $1.5 billion and $3 billion from bilateral and multilateral donors. In contrast, CAR received less than $500 million in the same period. Aid dropped further in 2013, following the coup d’etat. And despite several appeals from the United Nations, the humanitarian crisis response to CAR remains underfunded. Internal conflict worsened under Djotodia’s administration, and sparked Christian militiamen known as anti-Balaka to take up arms — forcing Djotodia to resign in January 2014 during a summit in Chad. The National Transitional Council appointed Catherine Samba-Panza as interim president, but the peace and security situation under her administration has not improved either. There is growing dissatisfaction with the current transition government due to lack of progress and the composition of government leaders. President Samba-Panza has reshuffled posts to make her government more representative, but peacekeeping forces have been unable to mitigate violence in the country. Despite a cease-fire agreement in July, Seleka fighters and the Christian militia continue to launch attacks against each other, often involving civilians in the fray. The steady deterioration of security in the Central African Republic underscores how essential international support is, and delivering development assistance to the fragile state is very risky. Through budget support, technical assistance and financial management capacity building, AfDB aims to mitigate two such risks: a reversal of development gains and low absorptive capacity. Although CAR’s other development partners focus on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programs, AfDB will support their efforts through the PARCB project, which targets to ensure ex-combatants are reintegrated in the community and citizens are protected and able to move freely. The future of CAR remains uncertain. But the bank will provide its best effort to help the country transition out of fragility and put an end to the cycle of violence and poverty. AfDB is working closely with the transition government to efficiently implement the interim strategy. At the same time, the bank is in constant dialogue with the country’s other development partners regarding fiduciary risks related to budget support and project spending. Contact African Development Bank Tel: (216-71) 102-833 / 102-060 Fax: (216-71) 103-760