Editing Central African Armed Forces (section)

==Present situation==
[[File:Patrolling the streets of Birao.jpg|thumb|A FACA servicemember armed with a [[RPD machine gun]] on patrol during a 2007 joint military operation in [[Birao]]]]

The FACA has been dominated by soldiers from the Yakoma ethnic group since the time of Kolingba. It has hence been considered disloyal by the two northerner presidents Patassé and Bozizé, both of whom have equipped and run their own militias outside FACA. The military also proved its disloyalty during the mutinies in 1996–1997. Although Francois Bozizé had a background in FACA himself (being its chief-of-staff from 1997 to 2001), he was cautious by retaining the defence portfolio, as well as by appointing his son Jean-Francis Bozizé cabinet director in charge of running the Ministry of Defence. He kept his old friend General Antoine Gambi as Chief of Staff. Due to failure to curb deepening unrest in the northern part of the country, Gambi was in July 2006 replaced with Bozizé's old friend from the military academy, Jules Bernard Ouandé.<ref name="ten">{{cite web|url=http://www.afrik.com/article10063.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709172955/http://www.afrik.com/article10063.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2006|title=Un nouveau chef pour l'armée centrafricaine|author=Panapress|date=6 July 2006|work=afrik.com}}</ref>

===Military's relations with the society===
The forces assisting Bozizé in [[2003 Central African Republic coup d'état|seizing the power]] in 2003 were not paid what they were promised and started looting, terrorising and killing ordinary citizens. [[Summary execution]]s took place with the implicit approval of the government. The situation has deteriorated since early 2006, and the regular army and the presidential guard regularly execute extortion, torture, killings and other human rights violations. There is no possibility for the national judicial system to investigate these cases. At the end of 2006, there were an estimated 150,000 internally displaced people in CAR. During a UN mission in the northern part of the country in November 2006, the mission had a meeting with a prefect who said that he could not maintain law and order over the military and the presidential guards. The FACA currently conducts summary executions and burns houses. On the route between [[Kaga-Bandoro]] and [[Ouandago]] some 2,000 houses have been burnt, leaving an estimated 10,000 persons homeless.<ref name="eleven">[http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/(httpInfoFiles)/63ACDE89E61019B5C125726F0035E8A0/$file/CAR_report_Jan2007.pdf – Internal displacement in Central African Republic: a protection crisis, January 26, 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621160703/http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004BE3B1/%28httpInfoFiles%29/63ACDE89E61019B5C125726F0035E8A0/%24file/CAR_report_Jan2007.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/httpInfoFiles%29/63ACDE89E61019B5C125726F0035E8A0/%24file/CAR_report_Jan2007.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |date=June 21, 2007 }}</ref>

===Reform of the army===
Both the ''Multinational Force in the Central African Republic'' (FOMUC) and France are assisting in the current reform of the army. One of the key priorities of the reform of the military is make it more ethnically diversified. It should also integrate Bozizé's own rebel group (mainly consisting of members of his own [[Gbaya people|Gbaya tribe]]). Many of the Yakoma soldiers who left the country after the mutinies in 1996–1997 have now returned and must also be reintegrated into the army. At the same time, BONUCA holds seminars in topics such as the relationship between military and civil parts of society. 2018 saw Russia send mercenaries to help train and equip the CAR military and by 2020 Russia has increased its influence in the region.
<ref name="twelve">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18174.htm|title=Central African Republic|work=U.S. Department of State}}</ref>