Military

Union for Peace in the Central African Republic
(l'Union pour la Paix en Centrafrique - UPC)

In 2014, African Union and French forces pushed the Seleka out of Bangui and, by the end of the year, the Seleka had split into several factions, each controlling its own area. The UPC is a splinter group of the Popular Front for Redress (Front populaire pour le redressement, FPR), a Chadian rebel group mainly consisting of Chadian and Central African Peuhl and commanded by Chadian Babba Laddé. The group’s second in command, Ali Darassa Mahamant, joined the Seleka and officially created the UPC in September 2014. He is its president and commander. FPRC and MPC fighters have killed civilians in past attacks, including in October 2016, when they razed a camp for displaced people in Kaga-Bandoro, killing at least 37 civilians and wounding 57.

After a de facto partition between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north, hostilities between the two groups have decreased. In its place is an explosion of fratricidal fighting between different factions of the Séléka, who were disbanded in 2014 and driven out of Bangui. In Ouaka and Hautte-Kotto, the two main groups vying for control are the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), dominated by Muslims from the Fulani ethnic group, and a coalition of rebels led by the Popular Front for the Renaissance in the Central African Republic (FPRC), dominated by Muslims from the Gula and Runga communities.

The UPC and FPRC split in 2014, after FPRC leader Noureddine Adam demanded independence for CAR’s predominantly Muslim north, a move rejected by UPC leader Ali Darassa. The cracks within the former Seleka rebel movement were further deepened as some of its top officials dumped the movement and created the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), an all-embracing political party that stood against the partition of the country and propagates the return to peace and security, Captain Ahmad Nedjad spokesman of the UPC announced on October 26. The party was created on October 25 in Bambari, Seleka's stronghold during a general assembly meeting.

In April 2017 violence pitted the ethnic Fulani Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) against the Popular Front for the Renaissance in the Central African Republic (FPRC). Both groups were fighting for control of the Ouaka central province, located at the border between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south. "Armed groups are targeting civilians for revenge killings in the central part of the country," said Lewis Mudge, a researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW). "As factions vie for power in the Central African Republic, civilians on all sides are exposed to their deadly attacks."