The Republican Guard (, or GR), also called the Presidential Guard (, or PR), a military unit that is nominally part of the

Central African Armed Forces The Central African Armed Forces (; FACA) are the armed forces of the Central African Republic and have been barely functional since the outbreak of the Central African Republic Civil War, civil war in 2012. Today they are among the world's wea ...

(FACA). However, it is directly subordinated to the President of the Central African Republic, for whom it provides security.https://thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/ArchitectsTerror-TheSentry-June2023.pdf

History

During the leadership of President

François Bozizé François Bozizé Yangouvonda (born 14 October 1946) is a Central African Republic, Central African politician who was List of heads of state of the Central African Republic, President of the Central African Republic from 2003 to 2013. He was th ...

, the guard largely consisted of members of his same tribe, "patriots" who helped him seize power during the 2003 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 and the overthrow of Bozizé in 2013, many members of the guard have joined the ''Seleka'' coalition. From 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. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n and

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

ese troops, with support from

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and

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, 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 ...

. 2 February 2015. Wagner contractors, since 2018, led training for the RG only and avoid training other units in the FACA due to its units being entirely trained by European militaries.

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 ...

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.

Current

In May 2019, a unit of the presidential guard was commissioned after being trained by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n military instructors, the ''groupement spécial chargé de la protection républicaine'' (GSPR). The unit, also known as ''Alpha Group'', had its initial operators trained for seven months.http://news.abangui.com/h/68102.html The Section d'Appui aux Opérations Spéciale (SAOS) serves as the Republican Guard's main SOF unit trained by Wagner contractors.

Organization

The RG's GSPR does not answer to FACA's General Staff or Parliament as they are under the control of the president. It's mostly made of up of soldiers who hail from the Ngbaka Mandja.

Structure

The following units are under the RG: * Republican Guard ** GSPR ** Alpha One ** Unit 124 ** Territorial Infantry Battalion 6 ** Support Unit

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book, editor-last1=Horn, editor-first1=Col. (retired) Bernd, editor-last2=Ilis-Alm, editor-first2=Col. (retired) Hans, title=Force Multiplier: Utilization of SOF from a Small State Perspective, date=2024, publisher=17 Wing Winnipeg Publishing Office, isbn=9780660693637, type=ebook Military of the Central African Republic Guards regiments