At the following map you can see how important the Central African Republic is for Iran and Sudan, in order for them to enter West Africa.
Map Central African Republic CAR
The Central African Republic was among other things a battle ground between France on one hand, and Iran and Sudan on the other. The Central African Republic is 85% Christian and 15% Muslim, and that is an advantage for France. But Sudan, Iran and Hezbollah had a great geographical advantage due to Sudan’s proximity to CAR.
Iran and Sudan supported Michel Djotodia, a Muslim political leader of CAR. With a coup Djotodia managed to become the leader of CAR in 2013. Djotodia had studied in the Soviet Union, he is married in Russia, he is fluent in Russian, and he obviously had the blessings of Moscow too. The Muslim population of CAR leaves at the northern part of the country, at the borders with Chad and Sudan. Russia had excellent relations with both Iran and Sudan. See Oilprice “Sudan's President Omer al Bashir’s New Best Friend - Russia?”, February 2012.
Djotodia managed to rise to power with the help of mercenaries from Sudan and Chad. For the life of Djotodia and how he rose to power see New York Times “Mystery Shrouds Rise and Aims of Rebel at Helm of Central African Republic”, April 2013.
For Djotodia also see BBC “Profile: Central African Republic's Michel Djotodia”.
Note that the government of Chad was an ally of Qaddafi, but Sudan supported many rebel groups in Chad, in the same way that Qaddafi and Chad supported rebel groups in South Sudan.
There was also the issue of the Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline, which would export Chad’s oil to Cameroon and the Atlantic Ocean, and why not the oil of South Sudan too? In the same way the Chinese could export the oil of South Sudan to the Indian Ocean through Kenya, the French and the Americans could export the oil of South Sudan to the Atlantic Ocean through Cameroon, in order for South Sudan not to be dependent on Sudan for its exports.
Obviously the Arabs of Sudan would prefer to see the oil of South Sudan, Chad and Uganda exiting Africa through the Arab part of Sudan and Port Sudan instead through Cameroon and Kenya. And obviously for the Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi it would be much better for the oil of Sudan, Chad and Ugand to exit Africa from Kenya and the India Ocean, because Libya is mainly exporting to Europe.
Map Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline
http://www-tc.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/images/pipeline_map.jpg
And as I said together with Sudan there was Iran, which wanted to attack the Trans-Saharan natural gas pipeline (Nigeria-Niger-Algeria) which was very bad for Iran, but also for Qatar and Russia. It was very bad for Turkey too, because Turkey wanted to send the natural gas of the Middle East and the Caspian Sea to Europe. That’s why you see these strange, or “unholy”, alliances in Africa, and the war in the Central African Republic was a byproduct of these power games.
However when Djotodia took the Central African Republic, with the blessings of Sudan, Iran and Russia, the French were not quick to respond, contrary to what they did to Mali, where they send the French army to hunt Al-Qaeda, when the rebellion broke out in 2012. See the Guardian “France: Why intervene in Mali and not Central African Republic?”, February 2013.
I guess that Mali, due to its proximity to the uranium fields of Niger was a lot more important than CAR for France.
I must also say that diamonds are the most important export good of the Central African Republic, and diamonds are one of the favorite methods of payment for terrorists. If you buy diamonds from the wholesale market you leave traces, and the secret services will become aware of the transaction. But if you get diamonds from the Central African Republic, or other African countries, that is diamonds that have never been recorded, you can make payments without leaving any traces. And maybe Djotodia was giving plenty of “black” diamonds to Sudan and Iran in order to pay the terrorist groups they supported in Africa.
Osama bin Laden was buying lots of diamonds. See the Guardian “Bin Laden's $20m African 'blood diamond' deals”, October 2002.
If you read the articles I mentioned about Djotodia you will see that Djotodia had professional experience in the diamond industry.
