Resource geopolitics fuelling external rivalry in the CAR

This research paper analyzes South Africa's military and diplomatic involvement in the Central African Republic (CAR), framing it as part of a broader geopolitical struggle for resource control and influence. The author argues that South Africa's efforts to resist Western interference and align with emerging powers like the BRICS group were undermined by a lack of regional support and insufficient intelligence infrastructure, ultimately leading to a 'humiliating experience' in the face of established Chinese and French interests.

• The Central African Republic possesses significant natural resources, including diamonds, tin, iron ore, copper, manganese, graphite, and gold, as well as undeveloped uranium reserves estimated between 15,000 and 32,000 tonnes of ore and potential oil deposits.
• South Africa's involvement in the CAR is characterized as a contest against the United States and France, as Pretoria resists what it perceives as Western manipulation of African crises for imperialist purposes, particularly in resource-rich areas.
• Tensions between France and the CAR's deposed leader, President Bozize, were exacerbated by Bozize granting oil exploration rights to China in 2009 after Total Oil rejected the offer, and his initial opposition to the French company Areva acquiring mining rights from the British-Canadian firm UraMin in 2007.
• South Africa's strategic position in the CAR was weakened by a lack of diplomatic alignment with regional actors; the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and its force, MICOPAX, did not support President Bozize, and Nigeria diverged from South Africa's approach, coordinating instead with France.
• The author concludes that South Africa's failure in the CAR demonstrates that pursuing a geopolitical strategy of resource control requires better intelligence infrastructure and clearer rationales for foreign deployments to compete with experienced international rivals.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2013). Resource geopolitics fuelling external rivalry in the CAR. https://saiia.org.za/research/resource-geopolitics-fuelling-external-rivalry-in-the-car/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Resource geopolitics fuelling external rivalry in the CAR. 2013. https://saiia.org.za/research/resource-geopolitics-fuelling-external-rivalry-in-the-car/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Resource geopolitics fuelling external rivalry in the CAR |date=17 April 2013 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/resource-geopolitics-fuelling-external-rivalry-in-the-car/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2013resource, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Resource geopolitics fuelling external rivalry in the CAR}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2013}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/resource-geopolitics-fuelling-external-rivalry-in-the-car/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }