Central African Republic CSPA Country Profile • Stimson Center

CSPA Implementation Tracker

Central African Republic

Years Listed

Each shaded box corresponds to a year the country appeared on the CSPA list and what types of waivers it received, if any.

The Central African Republic (CAR) appeared on the CSPA list in 2013 and 2014 and, following a seven-year absence, appeared again in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The U.S. president did not waive CSPA prohibitions against the provision of U.S. arms sales and military assistance to CAR in 2013, but did issue partial waivers in 2014, 2022, 2023, and 2024. As a result, CAR was prohibited from receiving more than $26 million in arms sales and military assistance – including $120,000 in International Military Education and Training, over $6 million in Direct Commercial Sales, and $20 million in Peacekeeping Operations Assistance – and permitted to receive more than $5.5 million in International Military Education and Training.

According to the U.S. State Department, between 2010 and 2012 various parties to the civil war (including the Central African Army, government-supported anti-balaka self-defense militias, and Seleka rebels) recruited and used child soldiers. In 2012, there were reports that the Central African Army used children to staff checkpoints and identify rebel hideouts. The Central African Army also reportedly provided in-kind support – including machetes – to anti-balaka village self-defense units which were known to recruit and use child soldiers. UNICEF estimated at the time that children comprised one-third of these self-defense groups.¹

In March 2013, the Seleka coalition took control of the government. Armed groups aligned with the coalition were known to recruit and use child soldiers – including the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), and the Democratic Front of the Central African Republic (FDPC).² According to UN estimates, Seleka-aligned armed groups and anti-balaka units recruited as many as 10,000 child soldiers by 2014.³ The Central African Republic was removed from the CSPA list in 2015 following the dissolution of the Seleka government, after which point the U.S. State Department did not report any allegations of child soldier use or recruitment by its successor government or by any government-backed groups for several years.

CAR’s reappearance on the CSPA list in 2022 followed reports that members of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) violated command directives in 2021 by forcibly recruiting at least one child and using seven children in support roles to serve at checkpoints, run errands, and gather information.⁴ In addition, FACA collaborated with and provided material support to the Russian-backed Wagner Group, which forcibly recruited and used children as laborers and to gather intelligence in CAR during the reporting period for the 2022 CSPA list.⁵ CAR remained on the CSPA list in 2023 and 2024 due to continued support for the Wagner Group and FACA’s continued recruitment and use of child soldiers (including children younger than 15), some of whom were used in direct hostilities.⁶

In the first two years that the Central African Republic was on the CSPA list, it demobilized more than 2,500 child soldiers and began drafting a national action plan against trafficking, but did not report efforts to actually establish policies against child soldiering or to raise awareness about existing national laws against the use of children in armed forces. The government also did not directly provide reintegration programs for child soldiers, which left children susceptible to re-recruitment.⁷ Between April 2021 and March 2022, CAR demobilized 78 children used by armed groups, assisted UN peacekeepers in screening 134 children used by armed groups to facilitate their enrollment in demobilization programs, and worked with an international organization to provide former child soldiers shelter, psycho-social services, and reintegration assistance.⁸

Since 2021, U.S. presidents have been required to include justifications for CSPA waivers that were issued during the previous year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report. CAR’s 2023 waiver justification stated that “Armed groups in CAR continue to threaten civilians and pose a longstanding risk to stability. The waiver for PKO and IMET assistance for CAR will support the professionalization of the military to better provide security to the people of CAR while respecting human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL). Additionally, IMET programming allows the United States to invest in CAR military officers to promote professional military education and foster relationships with foreign military personnel rooted in democratic values.”⁹

For more information, see the U.S. State Department’s 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report and 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. More information on the situation in CAR can also be found in the UN Secretary-General’s 2024 annual report on Children and Armed Conflict and 2024 country-specific report on CAR.

Total Waived and Prohibited

Since the CSPA took effect.

Explore the Data

Country- and program-level data on the number and type of national interest waivers granted, as well as the amount of arms sales and military assistance waived.

Amounts

Waivers

Amounts

Waivers