Wagner, conflict and poverty drive Central African Republic death rate above crisis levels: but where’s the aid?

Leslie Roberts, Jennifer O’Keeffe and Karume Baderha Augustin Gang

The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its GDP per capita in 2022 was estimated at US$491 per year.

The nation of roughly 5 million people has been in political turmoil since a violent takeover of power in 2013. A “total breakdown of law and order” has persisted for nearly 20 years. Roughly half of the countryside has been outside the government’s control.

In an attempt to gain back control, the government unleashed a campaign led by the Russian mercenaries, the Wagner Group, in 2020. A report documenting widespread human rights abuses in the CAR by the Wagner Group describes “well-planned campaigns of mass killing, torture, and rape”. This is consistent with the broader content of press releases and speeches coming from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The result