8th period: Terrific Tigers

Country: Central African Republic

Information provided by: 64
History:

4000 B.C - Ancient African Civilization begins and grows

1880's - France takes over the area

C.A.R is given representation in the French Parliment

1958 - C.A.R achieves independence within Africa

1972 - A new leader, Bokassa, declares himself president for life.

1979-1981 - Several changes in leaders and power take place.
(*See additional notes below provided by: 65)

1991 - 1st political parties begin to form

1992-2002 - More changes in power occur and severals coups take place

2003 - A rebel, Francois Bozize, proclaims his presidency

2004 - A new constitution is approves and begins to be put in action.

2005 - A huge flood takes place in the capital city; leaves over 20,000 people homeless

2006 - Rebels seize Bairo

2007 - The rebels and President reach a peace agreement.

2008 - Another peace agreement is made with 2 other rebel groups.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1067615.stm
http://www.jamtan.com/jamtan/fulani.cfm?chap=2&linksPage=219

C.A.R was a huge center of slave trade. It was known as the "heartland of the slave trade". People were taken by othre tribes or on slave raids by the Europeans. This is one reason I do not think France had Africa's good intentions in mind. They took over and took advantage of them.

Migration around the C.A.R area in the 18th and 19th century. Several people groups that came into the C.A.R were the Zande, Banda, and Bay-Mandija.
1903 - French took total control of Africa after defeating English.
December 1, 1946: The C.A.R is officially declared a country.
http://www.historyworld.net.wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad36
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4007.htm

Information provided by: 64
*Barthélémy Boganda (1910–59), a dynamic leader of Central African nationalism, worked toward independence and attained virtually complete political power. The first president of the independent Central African Republic was David Dacko (b.1930), who served from 1960 to 1966 and again from 1979 to 1981. Jean-Bédel Bokassa (1921–96) overthrew Dacko in 1966, proclaimed himself emperor in 1976, and was himself ousted by Dacko in 1979. Gen. André Kolingba (b.1936) seized power in 1981, and he served as president until he was defeated in the 1993 elections by Ange-Felix Patassé.

Read more: Famous central africans - Central African Republic - power http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Central-African-Republic-FAMOUS-CENTRAL-AFRICANS.html#ixzz0fG4RJUZr

*Additonal timeline information provided by: 65

Geography
Information provided by: 63

• Most of the country consists of flat, rolling grasslands.
• The northern half of the country is part of the World Wildlife Fund East Sudanian Savanna Ecoregion.
• There are Fertil hills in the northeast and some in the southwest.
• The Yade Massif which is a large granite plateau is in the northwest.
• The Congo River, Mibnou River Uele River, Ubange River, Sangha River, and the Nile River are the waterways.
• Tropical Climate with areas of desert as well as areas of flooding that occurs by the rivers.

63: c a r is the 42 largest country in the world

-Despite CAR's abundant resources of timber, diamonds, uranium, and gold; CAR is one of the least developed and poorest countries in the world.

-Over half of the people living in CAR are farmers, therefore the land has contributed to their food and economic needs.
-Because of the great amount of rivers in the terrain, this has helped with the travel for trade.
-The coordinates are 700N and 2100E.
-The culture of CAR shows through the terrain and how the people live.
Information provided by: 63

Demographic Information:

• Population: 4.4 million (UN, 2009)
• Capital: Bangui
• Area: 622,984 sq km (240,535 sq miles)
• Major languages: French, Sangho (lingua franca)
• Major religions: Christianity, Islam, indigenous beliefs
• Life expectancy: 45 years (men), 48 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: 1 CFA (Communaute Financiere Africaine) franc = 100 centimes
• Main exports: Diamonds, timber, cotton, coffee, tobacco
• GNI per capita: US $410 (World Bank, 2008)
• Internet domain: .cf
• International dialling code: +236

Information provided by: 65

Culture:

• Places a great emphasis on clothing.
• Women wear loose shirts and a length of cloth (pagne) wrapped around them as a skirt.
• Men wear casual clothes, look like pyjamas.
• Conservative- shorts are frowned on and standards are stricter for women.

Music:
C.A.R. listens to modern african music as well as traditional african music played on the commen instrument the log xylophone.
Informatiopn provided by: 66

Important People:

President: Francois Bozize


Former coup leader Francois Bozize took more than 64% of the vote in the second round of presidential elections in May 2005, ending two years of military rule. His rival was Martin Ziguele, a former prime minister.

Francois Bozize first took power in a 2003 coup

The newly-elected president called for national unity. He had pledged in his campaign to bring security to the coup-prone country.

Mr Bozize is no stranger to politics, or to coups. He stood for president in the republic's first democratic elections in 1993, but lost to Mr Patasse.

He led an unsuccessful coup in 1983 against military ruler Andre Kolingba and was suspected of being involved in a coup attempt against President Patasse in 2001, which was thwarted with the help of Libyan troops.
Information provided by: 65   

The current issue we chose is the fact that not everyone in Central African Republic has access to clean water. There are certain organization such as ICDI and Living Water International that have already began to drill several wells to help communities gain access to clean water, but it is not enough. These companies can only drill around 60 wells a year at most, which is definantelly not enough to supply the whole country. There is also the issue of what would happen if drought strikes, and all the wells dry up. The issue has began to be solved, but it is not complete quite yet.
Information provided by:64

Solution Letter:
Avenue David Dacko

P.O. Box 924
Bangui
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Ambassador Cook:

We are a group of students from WCHS writing to you on the behalf of the people in Central African Republic. We have researched and have seen the rich heritage and celebratory culture of Central African Republic. However, we have also noticed several issues and problems within your country. The issue that has seemed most prominent to us is the lack of clean water in Central African Republic. 85% of Central African Republic is drinking water from ponds, puddles, and rivers. We realize that several organizations, such as ICDI and Living Water International have made attempts to aid with this problem, but we do not think it is enough. These organizations can only drill a maximum of 60 wells in one year if they have the financial support they need. Even with the funds to drill the wells, there is the upkeep and maintenance of the wells, which is another expense.

We had never known about the lack of clean water in this country until after we researched this issue. We think if you raise awareness for this issue, many people will donate money to the organizations previously mentioned. If you would be willing to partner with our school, we would love to help raise support and awareness here in America. If people do not know the need, they cannot help meet it. Also, we think you should ask for donations from major corporations. With all the people working in corporation and business, you could raise awareness and support for the African need.

A few ways we think you could raise awareness are as follows: show people what it is like to have to drink dirty water, have them actually taste what it is like; show people the statistics, let them realize the number of people at risk for water borne diseases; have people try to reduce the amount of water they use everyday, thus reducing their water bill and putting more money in their pocket to spend or give. If you use these approaches, I think people will realize the need and help provide.

Sincerely,

63 ,64, 65 and 66