All events · The Long Emergencies

Central African Republic Conflict and the Flight of the Muslim Population

2013–2026 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Displacement Mass Killing Sexual Violence

Displaced

1 million

UNHCR reported over 935,000 people displaced inside CAR in January 2014, the peak of the crisis, of whom more than half were in Bangui. IDMC recorded 426,200 IDPs and 457,480 CAR refugees in neighbouring countries as of May 2015, with most having fled since December 2012. Displacement has remained between roughly 600,000 and 750,000 IDPs plus a similar number of refugees in the years since. A figure of about one million displaced at any given time is the reasonable central estimate; these are UNHCR and IDMC operational estimates, and the same people appear in successive waves.

Share of the population affected

21%

of the population of the Central African Republic when the Seleka took Bangui, 2013

Killed

3,000–6,000

direct killing

As of 2025. UNHCR figures for CAR displacement have hovered around a million through the mid-2020s, roughly half internally displaced and half refugees, with periodic spikes around elections.

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What happened

The mainly Muslim Séléka coalition took Bangui in March 2013 and its fighters committed widespread killings and looting against non-Muslim communities. From late 2013 the anti-balaka, self-defence militias drawn largely from Christian and animist communities, attacked Muslim civilians across the west of the country; Human Rights Watch documented massacres in Bossangoa, Zéré and elsewhere and recorded 450,000 people displaced and over 70,000 refugees by December 2013. The UN International Commission of Inquiry, reporting on 22 December 2014, found that all parties — FACA, Séléka and anti-balaka — had committed war crimes, that the anti-balaka campaign against Muslims amounted to ethnic cleansing constituting a crime against humanity, and that the threshold for genocidal intent had not been established. It estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people killed while calling this a probable radical under-estimate. Most of the Muslim population of the west left for Chad and Cameroon or was evacuated; displacement inside the country peaked above 935,000 in January 2014 and has remained high, with continued fighting in the east and centre through the 2020s.

Parties

The Séléka coalition seized power in Bangui in March 2013; anti-balaka militias then attacked Muslim civilians across the west, and ex-Séléka groups attacked Christian communities, emptying much of the country's Muslim population into Chad and Cameroon

Disputed

Whether the violence against CAR's Muslims amounted to genocide was contested: the UN Commission of Inquiry found ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity but concluded that genocidal intent was not established, a conclusion some advocacy organizations disputed.

The denominator

UN estimates give about 4.6-4.7 million for 2013; the last census was in 2003. The Muslim population, the main target of the anti-balaka campaign of 2013-14, was roughly 10-15% of the total and was almost entirely driven out of the west of the country.

The 1 million combines internally displaced people with refugees in Cameroon, Chad and the DRC, and counts repeat displacement over more than a decade; measured against the Muslim population of the west, the displacement was close to total.

Where the baseline comes from

Central African Republic Civil Waropen-edited
UNHCR Central African Republicofficial

On the death toll

The range is the UN International Commission of Inquiry's own estimate for the period it examined, which it described as likely a radical under-estimate because insecurity and lack of access prevented systematic investigation across most of the country. Deaths in the years since 2015 are not included in the range and have never been comprehensively counted.

Documented forms of violence

Mass KillingSummary ExecutionSexual ViolenceDestruction of PropertyStarvation and Siege

Documented by Human Rights Watch's field investigations in 2013 and by the UN International Commission of Inquiry, which recorded the deliberate denial of access to food, water and medical care to besieged Muslim communities.

Formal findings

International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic (UN Security Council resolution 2127) (2014) — Found that all parties committed war crimes, that the anti-balaka campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim population constituted a crime against humanity, and that the evidentiary threshold for genocidal intent had not been met; estimated 3,000–6,000 killed while calling this a likely radical under-estimate — source