Les Nzakara et les Yakoma vivent dans la même région du sud-est de la République Centrafricaine et partagent des origines communes selon les récits mythiques. Leurs patrimoines musicaux véhiculent leurs particularités culturelles qui se répercutent sur les pratiques musicales. On observe que la forêt et le fleuve jouent un rôle très différent dans leur construction identitaire. La forêt favorise la fermeture et le fleuve, l’ouverture. Les Nzakara ont un mode de vie lié à la forêt qui constitue leur principale source d’inspiration musicale ; ils sont plutôt conservateurs et ne sont pas prêts à se détacher de leurs sources tout en ignorant les réalités du monde en pleine mutation. Cette société précoloniale était fortement hiérarchisée. La musique tenue dans la plupart des cas par les poètes était très liée à l’ancienne organisation sociopolitique de la dynastie Bandia. Les Yakoma, en revanche, ont un mode de vie qu’il est convenu d’appeler « civilisation de la rivière » et qui constitue également leur source d’inspiration musicale ; ils sont plutôt ouverts et s’adaptent plus facilement aux changements. Aujourd’hui la musique se retrouve de plus en plus dans les églises majoritairement fréquentées par ce peuple. Leur société n’est pas hiérarchisée. L’arrivée des colons avec leurs corollaires, les missionnaires catholiques et protestants, s’est traduite par une lutte virulente contre les symboles religieux, les pratiques musicales et les instruments de musique. Cette situation a plongé les Nzakara dans un état de désenchantement et les a conduit à un abandon général de leurs pratiques culturelles. / The Nzakara and Yakoma people live in the southeast of the Central African Republic and according to mythical accounts share common origins. Their musical heritages convey their cultural specificities which resonnate in their musical practices. Within their identity construction processes, it is possible to identify very different roles played by the forest and the river: the forest promotes closure and the river, opening.The Nzakara way of live is linked with the forest, which constitutes their main musical source of inspiration. They tend to be conservative, are not ready to move away from their sources, unaware of the realities of the fast-changing world. This pre-colonial society was strongly hierarchical. The music used in most cases by the poets is closely linked to the sociopolitical organization of the dynasty Bandia. The Yakoma way of live, conversely, is usually described as the "civilization of the river", which also constitutes their musical source of inspiration. They tend to be more open and adapt more easily to social changes. Their society is not organized hierarchically.The arrival of the colonists accompanied by Catholic and Protestant missionaries resulted in a virulent struggle against their religious symbols, musical practices and the musical instruments. This situation destabilized and disillusioned the Nzakara, leading them to abandon their cultural practices.

During the latest armed conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) from 2013 to the present, narratives emerged regarding who was an autochthon and who was not, pitting “true Central Africans” against “foreigners”, Christians against Muslims. This new cycle of violence is embedded in a long history of political violence in the CAR. Still, the claim of one group being more autochthon than another has not been a prominent feature of previous conflicts, neither has fighting in the past formed so clearly along religious identities. Being a Son of the Soil, an autochthon, evokes an image that denies CAR’s history of migration of social groups and reify fixity, and such conflicts have also been present in other parts of Africa, as well as in Europe and Asia. To date, most literature seeking to understand autochthony-related armed conflict has been dominated by elite-centric analysis that highlight the mobilization of autochthony as a strategy to retain power in cases of political liberalization or democratization (Cameroon, Kenya or Côte d’Ivoire). When not elite-centric, analyses of autochthony-related conflict have emphasized land, access to land issues or crudely predatory logics of vigilante groups on the local level (Côte d’Ivoire or the DRC). In CAR, neither political liberalization, nor land issues alone were prominent, but autochthony was a strategy as witnessed in other African cases of autochthony-related armed conflicts. In that sense, this research asks how and why is autochthony being mobilized in the CAR politics before and after the 2013 coup? The dissertation argues that elites and ordinary citizens discursively mobilize autochthony as an identity capital across various scales. They do it to access non-land related resources, claim hierarchy, and discriminate against the other. The mobilization of autochthony is tied to longer legitimacy-seeking strategies of the elite, and autochthony is a symbolic myth that can be mobilized at various levels. The dissertation’s main theoretical contribution is to challenge the tendency to consider elites and supporters as belonging and subscribing to different discursive realm. This study has considered that autochthony links leaders and their followers in a type of pre-given conception that no longer needs explanation. This contributes to considering elites and their supporters as tied by the same discursive realm, but the concrete meaning of the discourse is different across multiple levels. To make the argument, the dissertation uses a qualitative multi-method approach predominantly centered on discourse analysis, fieldwork, interviews, and newspapers archival research. My research shows that understanding autochthony violence requires a simultaneous analysis of how autochthony is given meaning at different levels by various actors in everyday practices from the macro to the micro. Instrumentalizing autochthony lies at the interplay of all these levels. In this work, autochthony is vague enough to connect leaders to followers and, at the same time, precise enough for listeners to make sense of the term by connecting it to their daily experience of it. The long-term existence of the autochthony discourse allows it to change and morph at times of heightened crisis. It does not emerge overnight, but it has a longer genealogy that must be understood in context. That is, it is not simply because Bozizé targeted Muslim-foreigners in his speeches that people mobilized against them. Top-down manipulation might have resonated with followers but understanding of autochthony also operated independently of the top-down manipulation. That the conflict manifested around sectarian lines fits within an autochthony framework because autochthony is an empty identity marker whose content can be filled in many ways – most frequently with reference to ethnicity, religion, language, myths of origin, or some combination of such markers.

La République centrafricaine traverse depuis plusieurs décennies des crises socio­politiques et militaires. Celles-ci ont atteint leur apogée en 2013 autour des affrontements entre la Séléka, une rébellion du nord et les Anti­Balaka, un regroupement de milices locales. L’État n’a plus de contrôle sur l’ensemble de son territoire morcelé et tenu par des groupes armés. À partir du cas de l’Ouest centrafricain, cette thèse montre que les conflits armés ont des répercussions profondes sur les rapports des populations aux ressources et aux territoires. Ils ont un fort potentiel de destruction de certaines activités économiques telles que l’élevage bovin et la mine artisanale. Non seulement on assiste à une réorganisation des espaces de production des ressources pastorales et minières, mais le conflit induit également une trajectoire de décentralisation de l’accès aux ressources par les armes. Le contrôle par les armes a des incidences sur les acteurs, les réseaux et les flux de commercialisation. Nos travaux portent sur les dynamiques de l’Ouest centrafricain durant la période 2013-­2017. Ils s’appuient notamment sur une étude de cas à l’échelle de la commune d’élevage de Niem­-Yellewa, qui montre de quelle manière les ressentiments entre les groupes dominants, les luttes de pouvoirs entre les dirigeants locaux et les groupes armés en quête de ressources, s’agrègent pour générer, entretenir et faire perdurer un conflit local. / The Central African Republic has been experiencing socio­political and military crises for several decades. Those reached their peak in 2013 when clashes between the Séléka, a rebellion in the north and the Anti­Balaka, a group of local militias, arose. The state no longer has control over the entire territory which is fragmented and held by armed groups. Presenting the case­study of West Central African Republic, this thesis shows that armed conflicts have profound implications on people's relations to resources and territories. These conflicts also tend to destroy some economic activities such as cattle farming and artisanal mining. Not only it induces the reorganization of the production areas of pastoral and mining resources, but it also triggers a tendency for a decentralized access to resources via weapons. Such armed control impacts actors, networks and marketing flows. Our works focus on the dynamics of West Central Africa during the period 2013­2017. They are essentially based on a case study at the scale of the pastoral area of Niem­Yellewa, which shows how resentments between the dominant groups and power struggles between local leaders and the armed groups looking for resources, aggregate to generate, maintain and perpetuate a local conflict.

La République Centrafricaine, 622 984 km2 pour 4,525 millions d’habitants en 2012, est une ancienne colonie française, indépendante le 13 août 1960. Durant les premières décennies post-indépendance, un État faiblement structuré a été mis en place. Au moment où les efforts conjugués des bailleurs de fonds commençaient à inscrire une nouvelle dynamique de stabilité, la rébellion de la Séléka conduite par Michel Djotodia, a pris le pouvoir le 24 mars 2013. Depuis lors, le pays est confronté à l’une de ses crises majeures, caractérisée par l’intermittence de la violence, la pluralité des acteurs et la complexité des facteurs belligènes. Le défi de sécurité étant un déterminant incompressible, ce travail est construit autour de l’impact irréversiblement positif de la refonte des Forces de défense et de sécurité dans la construction de la paix, de la stabilité et du développement. / The Central African Republic, 622,984 km2 area for 4.525 million inhabitants in 2012, is a former French colony that became independent on August 13, 1960. During the first decades of post-independence, a weakly structured state was established. At the time when the combined efforts of the donors were beginning to introduce a new dynamic of stability, the Séléka rebellion led by Michel Djotodia took power on March 24, 2013. Since then, the country has faced one of its major crisis, characterized by the intermittent violence, the plurality of actors and the complexity of the belligerent factors. The security challenge is an incompressible means, this academic work is built around the positive irreversibly impact of the armed forces and security in the building of peace, stability and development in Central African Republic.

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2008.

Le théâtre en Centrafrique : de la théâtralité des rituels aux pratiques actuelles est un parcours de l’univers théâtral centrafricain. A travers le rituel du Ganza et celui du culte de Ngakola, précisément dans leurs aspects spectaculaires, ont été relevé des aspects théâtraux ou encore des éléments pouvant donner naissance à une forme théâtrale. Ces deux rituels ont fortement influencé certains hommes de théâtre centrafricains, qui n’ont pas manqué de les invoquer dans leurs créations artistiques. Les démarches de ces hommes étaient en réalité une quête vers la liberté. Ils voulaient d’une certaine manière se réapproprier une culture qu’ils commençaient à perdre au profit de celle du colonisateur. Le colonisateur, parrain d’un théâtre qui a du mal à se défaire - du « cordon ombilical » - des liens avec lui. Malgré l’indépendance et la renaissance de ce théâtre en 1960, avec la pièce A moléngué ti indépendance de l’Abbé Benoît Basile Siango, de multiples efforts restent à faire pour donner à l’art de Molière dans ce pays, ses plus belles lettres de noblesse sur tous les plans [artistiques, esthétiques, techniques, politiques et socio-économiques]. / The thesis entitled Drama in the Central African Republic : from the theatricality of rituals to contemporary practices, is a survey of the writing and production of plays in the Central African Republic. One can easily notice the theatrical elements, or elements that could give rise to some theatricality, in the Ganza ritual and the cult of Ngakola, especially when considering what relates to the spectacular in them. In the Central African Republic, these two rituals have had a great influence on certain number of playwrights who do allude them in their works. These writers are in fact aiming at more freedom. To a certain extent, they have been trying to recapture their own culture – a culture which they are gradually losing to that of the colonizer, the patron of the stage in the Central African Republic, with whom the link – the bondage – is hard to break. In spite of the independence of the country and of the revival of the theater in 1960 with the play entitled A moléngué ti independence by Father Benoît Basile Siango, considerable efforts still have to be made so that Molière’s art may regain its prestige [in terms of artistry, estheticism, techniques, as welle as political, social and economic commitment] in the Central African Republic.

La ville de Bangui, capitale de la République Centrafricaine, est sujette à de grandes difficultés en termes d'alimentation en eau potable. Un moyen de diversifier les ressources est de mettre en exploitation de façon plus importante les eaux souterraines à proximité de la zone urbaine. Deux aquifères existent sur le territoire, un aquifère superficiel dans les niveaux latéritiques et un aquifère en profondeur dans les niveaux carbonatés du Précambrien. L'aquifère superficiel, bien que très exploité, est un réservoir vulnérable et fortement marqué par les sources de pollutions anthropiques. Les caractéristiques isotopiques des eaux indiquent une très forte dépendance aux conditions hydrologiques de recharge et un rôle massif des processus d'évaporation sur la signature des eaux. L'aquifère profond est, quant à lui, dans des conditions semi-confinées et assez bien isolé des influences anthropiques. Les caractéristiques isotopiques des eaux sont en faveur d'une recharge plus homogène, au sein d'un réservoir de taille importante et sur une superficie notable autour de la zone urbaine de Bangui. Les temps de séjour calculés à l'aide du radiocarbone sur les eaux souterraines les plus profondes indiquent des "âges" de l'ordre de plusieurs siècles à environ 3000 ans, traduisant une forte inertie du système aquifère et par là même sont potentiel favorable à une exploitation pérenne et qualitative pour fins de production d'eau potable. / Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, is subject to great difficulties in terms of drinking water supply. One way to diversify resources is to operate more importantly groundwater near the urban area. Two aquifers exist in the area, a surface water in lateritic levels and a deep aquifer in carbonate levels of the Precambrian. The surface aquifer, although very exploited, is a vulnerable reservoir and is also strongly influenced by anthropogenic sources of pollution. Isotopic characteristics of the water indicate a very strong dependence on hydrological recharge conditions and a massive part of the evaporation of water on the isotopic signature. The deep aquifer is, meanwhile, in a semi-confined situation and relatively well isolated from anthropogenic influences. Isotopic characteristics of the water are in favour of more homogeneous recharge processes, in a large reservoir and over a substantial area around the urban zone of Bangui. The residence times calculated using radiocarbon on the deeper groundwater indicate "ages" of the order of several centuries to about 3000 years, reflecting a strong inertia of the aquifer system and thus favourable exploitation conditions for the development of a sustainable and qualitative drinking water supply from groundwater.

United nations peacekeeping is a contentious issue. What is mostly agreed on though, is thatthe brave men and women around the world risking their lives in peacekeeping missions around the world deserve the best security and protection the international community can offer. However, little research has been focused on the reasons behind violence against peacekeepers. This thesis theorizes that the presence of a third-party military operation that threatens theoperational capabilities of rebel groups has the potential to cause an increase in rebel violenceagainst a United Nations Peacekeeping operation in the same conflict. Through examiningconflict dynamics in the cases of Mali and the Central African Republic utilizing of astructured, focused comparison, the hypothesized relationship and causal explanations wereput to the test. The expectation was that in Mali, the high levels of violence would be explainedby the effectiveness of the French counterinsurgency operation in the country. In the CentralAfrican Republic, the contrary was expected. However, the hypothesis could not be confirmed. Due to some rather large caveats and limitations, the research gap could not be satisfied. Nonetheless, the study creates plenty for avenues of future research, and opportunities to learnfrom the challenges encountered.

CHARLES UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Institute of Political Studies Department of Geopolitical Studies Master's Thesis Wagner Group and Opportunism in Russian Foreign Policy: Case Studies of the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, and Mozambique Abstract This research paper concerns Russian foreign policy and the tools it uses to accomplish its objectives. More specifically, the research is focused on the secretive private military company (PMC) Wagner Group. Wagner Group has been deployed around the globe to further the interests of Russia and is a key tool in Russia's opportunistic foreign policy. This paper seeks to answer the research question: At what point does the risk for Russia become too high to maintain the deployment of Wagner Group in a foreign country? Answering this research question will help academics and policymakers further understand the use of Wagner Group by the Russian government. Wagner Group is meant to be low risk to Russia. Previous research is sparse and often covers many deployments of Wagner Group. In contrast, this paper focuses on three case studies that allow for a more in- depth approach - Wagner Group in the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, and Mozambique. Using qualitative analysis this paper discerned that in its use of Wagner Group, Russia will...

La préoccupation majeure de tout État moderne est d’assurer son développement économique et social. Chaque État définit ses stratégies de développement en fonction de ses réalités. C’est le cas de la République centrafricaine (RCA). L’économie du pays est fragile et demeure marquée par une faible capacité à générer des revenus. En dépit d’un potentiel naturel très important, la RCA pâtit de son enclavement qui pèse sur le développement économique du pays. Or, l’un des problèmes-clés du développement économique est celui de son financement endogène. Si les capacités contributives font défaut, il est impossible d’assurer un développement harmonieux. En effet, le financement du développement d’un État reste tributaire de la performance des ressources fiscales et douanières. La politique fiscale a un rôle important à jouer dans le développement économique d’un pays. En Centrafrique, comme dans les pays en développement, la politique fiscale est la locomotive du développement. Car, l’outil essentiel de toute politique de mobilisation de ressources et de financement adéquat du développement est la fiscalité, véritable instrument de politique économique et sociale. La fiscalité est à ce titre la carte maîtresse des programmes économiques de ce pays qui, non seulement, est enclavé mais doit relever le défi de la reconstruction à la suite des troubles politiques qui l’ont secoué durant des décades. Ainsi, la question du financement endogène du développement en Centrafrique se situe dans un contexte nouveau et doit prendre en compte plusieurs paramètres, en vue d’améliorer la mobilisation des ressources financières nationales permettant d’assurer le financement du développement / The major concern of every modern State is to ensure its economic and social development. Since living conditions are not the same, each State sets its development strategies according to its realities. This is the case of the Central African Republic (CAR). The economy remains fragile and is marked by a low capacity to generate income. Despite its huge natural potential (dense water network, large forest, vast mineral resources, extensive arable land etc.), CAR suffers from its hemmed-in position which weighs on the country's economic development. Yet, one of the key problems of economic development is endogenous funding. If the contributory capacities of citizens are limited, it is impossible to ensure a harmonious development. Indeed, the funding of any State development remains dependent on the performance of tax and customs resources. Thus, fiscal policy has an important role to play in the economic development of a country. In Central Africa, as in developing countries, fiscal policy is the locomotive of development. Since the essential tool of all resource mobilisation and adequate development funding policy is taxation, which is the real instrument of economic and social policy. Taxation is as such the trump card of economic programs of this country which, not only is landlocked but must face the challenge of rebuilding following the political unrest that shook it for more than two decades. In this sense, the question of endogenous financing of Central Africa’s development lies within a new context and must take into account several factors in order to improve the mobilization of domestic financial resources to ensure development growth