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CAR Heading for “highly detrimental” Impasse: Catholic Bishops Warn amid Political Unrest ahead of December Polls

Members of the Central African Episcopal Conference (CECA). Credit: RND BANGUI
Silas Isenjia

By Silas Isenjia

Bangui, 23 June, 2025 / 8:32 pm (ACI Africa).

Members of the Central African Episcopal Conference (CECA) have raised concerns over the political mood in the country, warning that persistent division and misinformation risk pushing the nation into a serious political deadlock ahead of the December 2025 polls.

In a statement delivered at the end of their June 16-23 Plenary Assembly organized under the theme, “Always be ready to give an account of the hope that is in you”, CECA members say that hope should inspire the courage needed to call upon the nation’s key stakeholders to address the prevailing unrest in the country.

“It is to be feared that we are heading straight for an impasse that would be highly detrimental to our country,” CECA members have said in the statement read out at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Alindao.

They add, “The strength of hope compels us. It compels us to call on our politicians, opinion leaders, representatives of civil society - in short, all the driving forces of the Central African nation - to decongest the situation and the political climate currently prevailing in our country, for the common good."

“We need to get away from the paradigm of misinformation, division, hatred, exclusive ethnocentrism, and partisan and power interests that do not honour to the democratic game and culture,” the Catholic Bishops in CAR say.

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In the statement, they underscore the urgent need “to fertilize the Central African imagination with true values and to promote the culture of freedom and truth, justice and reconciliation, national unity and harmony, fraternity and patriotic love.”

CAR reportedly faces major political instability, with weak institutions, controversial constitutional reforms, and ongoing violence by armed groups. In 2023, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the country’s President. removed term limits, sparking fears of authoritarianism.

Foreign actors, especially the Russian Wagner Group, exert growing influence over security and resources. Armed factions continue to disrupt communities, and over a million people remain displaced as the country prepares for the December 2025 elections.

According to a May 9 Reuters report, CAR struggles economically and socially. With a larger population living in extreme poverty, many lack access to basic healthcare, education, and infrastructure, the report indicates.

Armed conflict and climate shocks have reportedly disrupted farming, pushed food prices higher, and deepened hunger. Over a third of the population experiences food insecurity, and many communities depend on aid for survival.

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In their June 22 statement, the Catholic Bishops in CAR lament that the People of God in the Central African nation have lost hope amid these challenges.

“Faced with the harsh realities of daily life, marked by poverty, violence in all its forms and rejection of others, many people, even Christians, have lost all reason to hope,” CECA members say, referring to the prophet Isaiah’s call for hope even in moments of distress.

Hope, they said, “is a gift from God that helps us to stand firm in times of trial and adversity. We are called to recognize the traces of God's presence in our lives today, and to keep moving forward.”

“Daring to hope despite the headwinds means firmly believing that God, who raised his Son from the dead, can always renew the face of our earth and our country, deformed by sin, hatred, violence, repeated military-political crises, corruption, illegal and abusive exploitation of natural and mining resources, and bad governance,” Catholic Bishops in CAR say.

For them, “Giving an account of the hope that dwells within us means daring to make gestures of forgiveness and love, gestures that sow peace and reconcile, even when everyone around us is going in the opposite direction.”

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Giving account of hope, the Catholic Bishops in CAR further say, “means daring, through our basic ecclesial communities, our movements and fraternities and our Parishes, to take initiatives capable of improving or transforming our lives and those of the community.”

It also means, they continued, “daring to stand on our own feet and become the protagonists of our development.”

“Giving an account of the hope that dwells within us means believing and proclaiming that Christian hope neither deceives nor disappoints (cf. Rom 5:5), because it is founded on the certainty that nothing and no-one can ever separate us from God's love (cf. Rom 8:39),” CECA members say.

According to them, “Far from sinking into fatality, the Christian, thanks to the strength of hope, is always encouraged to do well and avoid evil.”

“Hope engages our responsibility as citizens, but above all as Christians, to be true guardians of inalienable evangelical and human values,” the Catholic Church leaders say in their statement following their eight-day Plenary Assembly that concluded on Monday, June 23.

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Silas Isenjia

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.