Republican Guard (Central African Republic)
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The Republican Guard (french: Garde républicaine, or GR), also called the Presidential Guard (french: Garde présidentielle, or PR), is nominally part of the
Central African Armed Forces The Central African Armed Forces (french: Forces armées centrafricaines; FACA) are the armed forces of the Central African Republic and have been barely functional since the outbreak of the civil war in 2012. Today they are among the world's we ...
(FACA) but is directly subordinated to the
President of the Central African Republic President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...
, for whom it provides security.


History

During the leadership of President François Bozizé the guard largely consisted of members of his same tribe, "patriots" who helped him seize power during the 2003 Central African Republic coup d'état, and was estimated to number some 800 men. They have been accused of numerous assaults on the civil population, such as terror, aggression, sexual violence. Since the outbreak of the civil war and ethnic violence in 2012 with the overthrow of Bozizé, many members of the guard have joined the ''Seleka'' coalition. Since 2008 they had received training from
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
n and Sudanese troops, with support from
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and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, although since then the leadership has been cautious about significantly reforming the guard.Central African Republic Background Note — Security Sector Reform
DCAF DCAF - ; Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (French: ''Centre pour la gouvernance du secteur de la sécurité, Genève,'' German: ''Das Genfer Zentrum für die Gouvernanz des Sicherheitssektors'') is an intergovernmental foundation-b ...
. 2 February 2015.


Civil War

Since the civil war, transitional president
Michel Djotodia Michel Am-Nondokro Djotodia (born c. 1949) is a Central African politician who was President of the Central African Republic from 2013 to 2014. He was the first Muslim to hold that office in the predominantly Christian country. Djotodia was a l ...
attempted to reform the presidential guard, which was staffed by his militia. Chinese instructors provided training to the presidential guard and other internal security forces in 2018.


Status

Its current status is unknown, although Prime Minister Catherine Samba-Panza was known to rely on foreign security guards, particularly those from Rwanda. Currently President
Faustin-Archange Touadéra Faustin-Archange Touadéra (; born 21 April 1957) is a Central African politician and academic who has been President of the Central African Republic since March 2016. He previously was Prime Minister of the Central African Republic from Janua ...
is also protected by Rwandan troops. Some sources suggest that a Central African Presidential Guard still exists, however, and that it has been trained by Rwandan commandos. In May 2019, a unit of the presidential guard was commissioned after being trained by Russian military instructors, the ''groupement spécial chargé de la protection républicaine'' (GSPR).La garde présidentielle se dote d’une nouvelle unité spéciale
. ''Agence Centralafricaine de Presse''. Published 3 May 2019.


References

{{reflist Military of the Central African Republic Guards regiments