Bouar


Bouar is a market town in the western Central African Republic, lying on the main road from Bangui to the frontier with Cameroon. The city is the capital of Nana-Mambéré prefecture, has a population of 40,353, while the whole sous-préfecture has a population of 96,595. Bouar lies on a plateau almost 1000m above sea level and is known as the site of Camp Leclerc, a French military base.
About seventy groups of megaliths lie in the town and to its north and east. The Bouar Megaliths, dating back to the very late Neolithic Era were added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on April 11, 2006 in the Cultural category.

History

Bouar was ceded by France to Germany under the terms of the 1912 Morocco-Congo Treaty, becoming part of the German colony of Neukamerun until it was reconquered by the French during World War I. The town was occupied and burned down in the late 1920s by Gbaya rebels during the Kongo-Wara rebellion.

Ethnic cleansing in 2013-2014

As of February 2014 the town and region around Bouar were experiencing ethnic cleansing, principally against Muslim civilians. A French journalist, Camille Lepage, was also killed and her body found in the car of Anti-balaka troops in the Bouar region in May, 2014.

Climate

classifies its climate as tropical wet and dry.

Places of worship

Among the places of worship, they are predominantly Christian
churches and temples : Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic, Evangelical Baptist Church of the Central African Republic, Roman Catholic Diocese of Bouar. There are also Muslim mosques.