Kongo-Wara rebellion

Kongo-Wara rebellion
Date 1928–1931 Location French Equatorial Africa, French Cameroon Result Rebellion defeated
Belligerents
Gbaya people and clans Co-belligerents: Mbum people Mbai people Pana people Yangere people Mbimou people Goundi people	France French Equatorial Africa French Cameroon Fula people Co-belligerents: Gbaya chiefdoms
Commanders and leaders
Karnou † Bissi Yandjere	Auguste Lamblin Paul Germain Gaetan Germain Pierre Crubillé Lt. Boutin
Strength
290,000 villagers 60,000 warriors	unknown
Casualties and losses
10,000-100,000	unknown

Gbaya people and clans

Co-belligerents:
Mbum people
Mbai people
Pana people
Yangere people
Mbimou people

France

Fula people

Co-belligerents:

The Kongo-Wara rebellion, also known as the War of the Hoe Handle and the Baya War, was a rural, anticolonial rebellion in the former colonies of French Equatorial Africa and French Cameroon which began as a result of recruitment of the native population in railway construction and rubber tapping. It was the smallest and least well-known of the French colonial uprisings during the interwar period. Much of the conflict took place in what is now part of the Central African Republic.

Barka Ngainoumbey, known as Karnou (meaning "he who can change the world"), was a Gbaya religious prophet and healer from the Sangha River basin region. In 1924 he began preaching non-violent resistance against the French colonisers in response to the recruitment of natives in the construction of the Congo-Ocean Railway and rubber tapping, and mistreatment by European concessionary companies. Karnou also preached against Europeans and the Fula, who administered sections of Gbaya territory in French Cameroon on France's behalf. The nonviolent overthrow of the French and Fulani was to be achieved through the use of traditional medicine, symbolised by a small hooked stick that resembled a miniature hoe handle (koŋgo wara) that was distributed by Karnou to his followers. A movement emerged around Karnou, which grew to include a boycott of European merchandise and black solidarity. This movement went unnoticed by the French administration, which had only a limited presence in the region, until 1927, when many of the movement's followers began to take up arms. By this time there were over 350,000 adherents to the movement, including around 60,000 warriors. Such unity was unprecedented in a region known for its political fragmentation and historical lack of centralised authority.

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