Bossangoa, Bambari & the North

The savannas of the north were long a frontier between the farming peoples of the centre and the Muslim states of the Sahel. In the 19th century slave raiders from Darfur, Wadai and Bagirmi reached deep into the region, and in 1896 Muhammad al-Sanusi made Ndélé the capital of the sultanate of Dar al-Kuti, which raided the Banda and other peoples to the south for captives. The French, who set up posts at Fort-Sibut and Fort-Crampel, now Kaga-Bandoro, first dealt with the sultan and then killed him in 1911.

Under colonial rule the north-west became the cotton belt, where villagers were compelled to grow the crop for export, and the Gbaya of the west rose in the Kongo-Wara rebellion of 1928 to 1931 against forced labour. After independence, politicians from the north-west came to dominate national life: Ange-Félix Patassé, president from 1993, was born in the Ouham-Pendé, and François Bozizé, who seized power in 2003, is a Gbaya.

The present crisis began here. In 2012 rebel groups from the north-east formed the Séléka coalition, and in 2013 they swept south and took Bangui. Anti-balaka militias rose against them, and attacks between Muslim and Christian communities drove hundreds of thousands from their homes. The Séléka later split into rival armed factions, and control of Bambari and other towns has changed hands and been contested over the years since.

The north is home to many peoples. The Gbaya live in the west around Bossangoa and Bozoum, the Banda in a wide belt across the centre around Bambari, Sibut and Kaga-Bandoro, and Sara groups near the Chad border. In the far north-east live the Runga, Gula and other groups whose ties run north to Chad and Sudan, and Fulani herders move cattle across the savannas. Sango is the common language.

Religion follows geography: the north-west and centre are mostly Christian, with long-established Catholic and Protestant missions, while Islam is the majority faith in the north-east around Ndélé and Birao. Before the conflict, Muslim traders lived in towns throughout the region, and relations between the communities were generally close; the violence since 2013 has divided many towns into separate quarters. Village life still centres on the chief, the market, the church or mosque, and initiation and harvest ceremonies.

The towns of the north are small: Bambari, Bossangoa, Bozoum, Kaga-Bandoro and Sibut each have tens of thousands of people, and much of the far north is almost empty. Most families farm cassava, sorghum, millet, groundnuts and sesame, and the cotton industry that once supported the north-west has largely collapsed. Cattle herding is a major activity, and the seasonal movement of herds from Chad and Sudan is a frequent source of conflict with farmers.

Years of fighting have left the region with destroyed villages, displacement camps around towns and mission compounds, closed schools and few working clinics. International aid agencies provide much of the health care and food, and peacekeeping bases are part of daily life in many towns. Gold and diamond digging, along with taxes on roads and markets, has helped fund armed groups.

Cooking in the north follows the national pattern of a starchy staple with a sauce. Gozo, a paste of cassava flour, is eaten everywhere, but further north a stiffer porridge of millet or sorghum takes its place. Sauces are made from cassava or sorrel leaves, okra, groundnut paste and sesame, cooked with dried fish, beef or goat, and seasoned with hot pepper.

Cattle country means more beef than in the south, eaten as grilled skewers in the towns and in stews, and fresh or soured milk is part of Fulani cooking. Wild honey, shea nuts and seasonal forest and savanna foods such as caterpillars add to the diet. Sorghum and millet are brewed into local beers, and in Muslim areas sweet tea is the social drink.

Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park, stretching across the far north, is the region's great natural site: a UNESCO World Heritage Site of savanna, wooded hills and the floodplains of rivers draining to the Chari. It once held large herds of elephants and buffalo, giraffes, lions and cheetahs, and rich birdlife on the floodplains, but heavy poaching and armed conflict have destroyed much of its wildlife, and it is listed as World Heritage in Danger. Bamingui-Bangoran National Park, to its west, protects similar savanna and rivers within a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

Further south, Bossangoa lies on the Ouham river in the heart of the cotton country, with its Catholic mission, and Bozoum, in the rolling uplands of the Ouham-Pendé, has long been a mission and market town. On the road north-east from Bangui, Sibut is a small crossroads town, and Bambari, on the Ouaka river, was one of the country's larger towns and a centre of the cotton trade. Ndélé keeps remains of the Dar al-Kuti sultans' capital.