My guide, Ekhsan, parked the motorbike, and showed me the small track threading between the trees. At the edge of the village we met a line of barefoot Ba-aka children, who fell silent and stared. The smallest one began to howl. ‘They’re not used to seeing munjus [white people]!’ laughed Ekhsan. A man strode down a slope towards us. The first thing I noticed was how short he was, and the second, as he drew close, was the wooden crucifix around his neck.
The vast majority of Central Africans (about 80 per cent) identify as Christians. They’re mainly Catholics, a direct legacy of the French who colonized the Central African Republic (CAR) at the end of the 19th century. Muslims make up 10-15 per cent of the population, though numbers have plunged these last few months as communities have fled spiralling political violence and anti-Muslim militias stalking central and northern CAR.
