This is the argument Louisa Lombard, an Anthropologist doing fieldwork in the Central African Republic, toys with. And she makes some very good points: the state there helps no one outside Bangui: “Life expectancy in CAR drops by six months each year”; “Everything [inducing most foodstuffs] is imported”; “residents complain of the discrimination they face from the faraway central government, which labels them Chadian or Sudanese and therefore sub-standard citizens”; even that it was never intended to be a nation “Barthelemy Boganda, never thought that it could be a tenable country on its own, and he chose the anodyne name it now bears in hopes that it would facilitate joining forces with the rest of Central Africa to become a federation”.

Of course this won’t happen anytime soon. The CAR will just remain an open sore until there is some massive change in the political class or their internal chaos starts interfering with resource extraction and more stable neighbors. And so it will go on.

Related links

• What can a humanitarian response offer the Central African Republic? (one.org)
• UPDATE 1-Central African Republic to hold April 25 elections (af.reuters.com)
• Sunday Africa Blog Roundup: Sudan and the ICC, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, al Shabab and Somali Pirates, Nas and Damian Marley (sahelblog.wordpress.com)
• Sunday Africa Blog Roundup: Somalia, Sudan, DRC, Swiss Minarets (sahelblog.wordpress.com)