III. Armed conflict and peace processes in Central Africa

Chapter:

7. Armed conflict and peace processes in sub-Saharan Africa

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2020

Author(s):

Ian Davis

The African Development Bank defines Central Africa as Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.¹ For the purpose of this chapter Burundi is also considered to be part of Central Africa. Although five Central African states were involved in armed conflicts in 2019—Burundi, Cameroon, the CAR, Chad and the DRC—the armed conflicts in Cameroon and Chad were discussed in section II as part of the Lake Chad region. In this section the focus is on the long-running armed conflicts in the CAR and the DRC. In the CAR the main challenge was in implementing a new February 2019 peace agreement between the government and armed groups, while in the DRC a period of political transition was accompanied by increasing insecurity and political violence in the eastern provinces and an ongoing health emergency from the measles and Ebola outbreaks.