Rebel Takeover in CAR & Park's A Long Walk to Water

I've previously posted about the civil war in Congo.  Now we move to the civil war in the Central African Republic.

From today's BBC article "Central African Republic: Rebels 'take palace as Bozize flees:'"

Rebels in the Central African Republic say they have seized the presidential palace after President Francois Bozize reportedly fled the capital... The rebels joined a power-sharing government in January after talks brokered by regional leaders to end a rebellion they launched last year. But the deal quickly collapsed, with the rebels saying their demands, including the release of political prisoners, had not been met. BBC Africa editor Richard Hamilton says government soldiers have been unable to fend off the rebels because Mr Bozize fears being overthrown in a coup and is therefore wary of having a strong army. He came to power himself in a military coup in 2003.

I couldn't find any "perfect match" novels. I could hardly find any novels set in the Central African Republic. Suggestions welcome!

So instead I recommend a book set in Sudan which touches on several themes relevant to CAR, including rebels and refugees. That book is Linda Sue Park's young adult novel A Long Walk to Water:

A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.

Refugee Camps & Osborne's Refuge

 From yesterday's BBC article "Prince Charles 'heartbroken' by plight of Syrian refugees:"

The Prince of Wales says the plight of Syrian refugees is "heartbreaking", while on a tour of a camp in Jordan... More than a million Syrians have now been registered by the UN as refugees in countries including Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt... The King Abdullah camp, near Jordan's northern border with Syria, is one of the smaller camps in the country. It is run by the UN, Unicef and Save the Children. The BBC's Wyre Davis, who is at the camp, said thousands of people were crossing the border into Jordan every night and half of them were thought to be children... The royal couple's visit comes as Save the Children warns that some two million children are in need of help in Syria. Their report says increasing numbers are being recruited as guards, informers, fighters and, in some cases, human shields, for both sides involved in the conflict... The conflict has left more than 70,000 people dead and two million internally displaced, of a pre-conflict population of 20.7 million.

For a novel set in a refugee camp, try Refuge by N.G. Osborne:

On a dusty, sweltering night, Noor Khan, a beautiful, headstrong Afghan refugee, comes face-to-face with Charlie Matthews, a brash, young American aid worker. To Noor's fury, Charlie breaks every cultural norm and pursues her. She wants nothing to do with him: her sole aim in life is to earn an overseas scholarship so she can escape the miseries of the refugee camps.