|
Motto | |||||||
| Anthem: | "Dieu nous protège tous!" | ||||||
| Capital: | Basankusu. | ||||||
| Largest city: | Mbandaka.. (it lays claim to Kisangani). | ||||||
| Other cities: | Basoko, Yangambi, Aru, Befale, Bongandanga, Bumba (DRC), Lisala, Binga, Zongo, Gemena, Bomongo, Makanza, Lukolela, Epena and Bikoro. | ||||||
| Language: official: |
No official language, but French, Swahili and Lingala are the lingua franca. | ||||||
| others: | Mongo, Lomongo, Kikongo, Tshiluba, Cuban Spanish, British English and many others of Bantu origin. | ||||||
| Religion: main: |
Christianity. | ||||||
| others: | Traditional Animist religions. | ||||||
| Ethnic group: | Various Bantu tribes. | ||||||
| Government: | Presidential pseudo-religious dictatorship. | ||||||
| President.: | Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu. | ||||||
| Prime minister.: | Andre Claude Pascal Nguesso. | ||||||
| Population: | 6,685,575. | ||||||
| Established: | 1976. | ||||||
| Currency: | Barter only. | ||||||
The Divine and Holy Equatorial African Republic is a little known, trusted or explored territory that surrounds 22 ex-Zairean towns and cities located in northern part of the former Zaier. It has struggled through much of its post-WW3 history with poverty and government neglect, but in recent years as communications with other nations improve has tried to start up trade with it's neighbours. At last things appear to be taking a turn for the better. It is a presidential pseudo-religious dictatorship It was born out of the ruins of Zaire in late 1976.
History[]
Pre-fomation[]
With the foreign help to the various factions factions and the government cut, things soon became chaotic! 3 pro-communist Ground Attack aircraft sent from a Cuban garison base hit and and badly damaged both Basankusu Cathedral, Basankusu hospital and University of Mbandaka in a brief exchange of fire with Zaire the day after Doomsday had occered. This strafing and bombing killed several dozen and wrecked a few vehicles to.
Antoine Gizenga and his rebel members of the MNC-L fled to Stanleyville (Kisangani) where, led by, they formed a rebel government in November 1960 in opposition to the central government in Léopoldville. With only Tanzanian help after 1962, it soon fell in to disarray and anarchy. Ziear as a whole was falling apart and in to chaos!
The Simba Rebellion was a 1964 rebellion then as a result of alleged abuses by the Congolese central government. It formed part of the turbulent history of the country in the first half of the 1960s and was contemporary with another uprising, the Kwilu Rebellion led by Pierre Mulele, in the central Congo. Katanga also rebelled in the south at about this time to.
Ebola[]
The towns of Yambuku and Tandala were hit by a devastating OTL/ATL Ebola in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Many of the regions Christians believed what they were suffering was a divine test and also considered probably to be part of the biblical Armageddon! The Catholic Christian faith then moved in to a more fundamentalist mode in many quarters.
Kisangani crisis[]
Kisangani was in chaos as bread riots broke out in the early 1970's and
Basoko, Kisangani, Yangambi and Aru,
As Zaire struggled to stay afloat and see off a minor cholera outbreak in Kinshasa, Équateur Province and Orientale Province fell into confusion, the charismatic Basankusu preacher and GP, Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu rose to power in early 1976 and secured his position in the west of the subordinate Équateur District during late 1977. He and his gang of heavies roamed the location of the nation preaching a mixture of northwestern Ziearian nationalism, anti-Animism and pseudo-Christian fundamentalism. The Bikoro teacher Andre Claude Pascal Nguesso soon join his ranks and numbers swelled. ~10,000-15,000 died in the anti-Animist 1978-79 War of national Pureification as the cult crushed it's religious and secular rivals.
Dr Engulu knew malnutrition had weekended the people of Kisangani giving cholera, malaria and Ebola a greater chance of success. Nature took it's coarse and epidemics did soccer. ~1,500-2,000 died in the 1979 Kisangani Ebola outbreak and 100-125 died in the 1982 Kisangani cholera outbreak. As this happened everyone turned to the church for help chose be loyal to the self styled proclaimed "Massiah", who claimed it to be a punishment sent from god. He preached such in Lukolela, Makanza and Bikoro, and many of the people beveled him.
Early history[]
Terrified animist refugees near Kisangani.
Mini-skirts were forbidden in the April of 1983 for being to rude and sexy. Sailor dresses [[1]], [[2]], [[3]] were outlawed because they were seen as to un-African in the May of 1984, witches were banned in the July of 1984, females over the age of 9 were to were head scarves December of 1984 and Animism was unsuccessfully banned in the December of 1985.
~50,000-60,000 died in the 1985-87 War of Western Unification against the independent towns of Bongandanga, Bumba (DRC), Lisala, Binga, Befale, Gemena and Zongo. Only Gemena and Zongo remained independent after the war.
~150,000-200,000 died in the 1989 cholera outbreak and ~5,000 died in the 1988 anti-Animist purges, leading to a total of some ~205,000- 265,000. As this happened everyone turned to the church for help. The towns of Gemena and Zongo willingly joined the emergent state in late 1989 after being devastated by a major flue outbreak. This was all used by Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu to 'prove' they had to be loyal to the self proclaimed "Massiah".
A few minor clashes occered with the Congo (Brazzaville) over fishing rights on the River Congo between 1989 and 1997, but this has now been settled peacefully with a 50/50 split on use of the river's waters.
Modern history[]
Newly recruited and indoctrinated 'nuns' in Bikoro during 2012.
Locals fixing an old Bailey Bridge over a river by Bikoro during 2012.
The slow, painful and often inept path to recovery began in 1990 and lasted until 2000. Dissidents, those not meeting work quotes, food hoarders, women who wore excessively short skirts and alleged witches were killed from time to time in the early 1990's by local pro-government militias and death squads.
A bloody pro-Animist insurgency occered between the May of 2000 and the March of 2008.
The Equatorial African Republic first clashed with the War Lord of Epena, which was situated in the former Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), in the May of 2002.
May 1st, 2003, saw a 1 day low level clash between DHEAR militia and CAR migrant laborers in the DHEAR border town of Zongo, in which 6 were hurt and 2 killed.
The May 20th, 2007, Mbandaka riot was fueled by a then upswing in nationalism among the Mongo ethnic group, although people from many different regions still live in the city.
The Equatorial African Republic captured Epena off the local war lord in the May of 2008.
Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu was a major driving force in the national sanitation and clean water supply campaign of 2010.
Since the independence in 1984, there has been an increasing deterioration in the quality of life for people of Basankusu and the Democratic Republic of Congo generally. This decline has been especially bad because of the violent conflicts that have ravaged the country. Years of civil war and neglect have taken a heavy toll on the city infrastructure, with no electricity or running water in large sectors of the city. Most of the streets and avenues of the cities are dirt roads. Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu was a major driving force in the national sanitation and clean water supply campaign of 2010.
Because of the country's Belgian colonial heritage, French is spoken in all lessons in secondary schools and in government offices.
Geography[]
Équateur Province is mostly dense jungle. Orientale Province is mostly tropical forest with patches of tropical Savannah.
The location of the Basankusu on the Lulonga River, a tributary of the Congo, at the confluence of the Lopori and Maringa Rivers has contributed to its success as a center for trade in the region. Set deep in tropical rain-forest, the rivers serve as the 'highways for transport' of both the people as well as goods.
Mbandaka, formerly known as Coquilhatville or Coquilhatstad (named after Camille-Aimé Coquilhat), is a city on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, lying near the confluence of the Congo and Ruki Rivers.
Bomongo is a town that lies on the west bank of the Ngiri River.and is surrounded by a sparsely populated region of swamp forest between the Ubangi and Congo rivers.
Bikoro is a market town in Équateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lying on jungel Lake Tumba, south of Mbandaka.
Gemena is the capital city of the Sud-Ubangi District of Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city has a small (now out of use) airport.
Kisangani is in the more accseable eastern tropical woodlands.
Economy[]
A barter based subsistence farming and fishing system with a few minor urban potteries, brick kilns, tileworks and small scale blacksmiths' works. There is a plan to use the DRC Dollar as of 2018. Negotiations started in the July of 2014.
Agriculture[]
Agriculture in Bongandanga is far from well organised.
Subsistence farming and fishing.
Small scale urban industries[]
A few minor urban potteries, brick kilns, tileworks and small scale blacksmiths' works.
Energy[]
Peasants carrying fire wood near Mbandaka.
Gathered wood and animal dung in peoples homes and for both the few minor urban potteries and small scale blacksmiths' works.
Government[]
Leadership[]
President Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu, his wife Patricá Odette Henriette Engulu, Prime minister Andre Claude Pascal Nguesso and his wife Edith Hélène Claudette Nguesso run virtually everything in the nation due to a cult of personality. Dr Engulu's pet dog is called Clèudéttè. other previous dogs were called Pátricé, Hálèná, Chárlèné, Cláudètté and Chárlotté, What is left is run by a small bunch of crooks, thugs and religious maniacs.
International Relations[]
Negotiations started in 2012 on opening an embassy in the CAR. It is an observer member of the African Union
Religion[]
Cultist Christianity and outlawed traditional Animist religions. Traditional religions embody such concepts as monotheism, animism, vitalism, spirit and ancestor worship, witchcraft, and sorcery and vary widely among ethnic groups.
Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu has also become the head of the nation's clergy over the years.
Travel[]
Boats at a ad-hoc quay in Bomongo.
Roads in Bongandanga are indeed truly rudimentary.
Horses are still popular in the nation, despite the recent, but short lived, outbreak of equine ethnocide hematoma. Several canals were dug in 2008 and 2009 that connects some towns to the bigger rivers. Yachts and sailing boats operate on the River Congo.
Health care[]
Thyroid and lung cancer is still a major problem, but became much lower since 1985. Dr José Laurent Léon Engulu was a major driving force in the national sanitation and clean water supply campaign of 2010.
Ebola[]
The towns of Yambuku, Tandala and Kisangani were hit by a devastating OTL/ATL Ebola in 1976, 1977 and 1979 respectively.
Local dog and rat species[]
The Basenji is a breed of hunting dog that is often seen in Basankusu. The Lukolela Swamp Rat is named after the town it mostly lives in.
Housing[]
A house in Mbandaka.
Kisangani /kiːsəŋˈɡɑːni/ (formerly Stanleyville) is the third largest urbanized city in the former Zaire. Aru is town and seat of Aru Territory in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Aru has a small airport but no public electricity grid as of 2012.
The bricks for local houses are of several types. Termite hills are oft used to produce cement-free, cost-free, durable mud bricks in Basankusu, although expensive fired and unfired clay bricks are also used. Palm-thatched roofs and hard-earth floors are found in the majority of houses, but variations in construction include concrete floors and corrugated metal or costly fired-clay tiled roofs. they have an outside verandah type sitting area, because of the warm climate, with overhanging roofs to create a sheltered area from the heavy tropical rain. The houses have a that kitchen is usually a separate wattle and daub structure, behind the main house. The toilet, in a nation that is mostly without water mains, is normally a simple cubicle concealing a salt lined pit or salt lined "long drop" dry toilet.
Culture[]
Media[]
Posters a nailed up as and when necessary by the local authorities and a monthly newspaper has been available since 2008.
Sport[]
The national sport is football and the nation is a member of FIFA and the IOC.
Food[]
Bush meat, fish, fruit, grain, cassava, millet and vegetables.
The Arts[]
Traditional wood carving is common and openly encouraged by some in the town of Epena.
Armed forces[]
The Equatorial African Republic maintains a small army. The nation has no Air Force or naval forces.
The army consist of three battalions of 500 soldiers each, and one presidential security force of 150 fanatically loyal men.
There is no armor or artillery in the military. Standard issue weapons include AK-47 rifles scavenged and captured from abandoned military bases and rebel groups, and machetes for close combat. Officers are given Makarov handguns.
The Equatorial African Republic captured Epena off the local war lord in the May of 2008 after a 6 year intermittent war over access to the River Congo.
A pro-Animist insurgency occered between the May of 2000 and the March of 2008.
The death penalty[]
Murderers, political dissidents, supposed witches, sex predators, rapists, child molesters, traitors and enemy spies are executed with the hangman’s rope. A moratorium on hanging has been in place since 1995.
Images[]
