Central Green Belt
The Central Green Belt Gaullican: Ceinture verte centrale, Kirobyi: Ahirengeïe) is a term used in human geography to denote the region which divides the Boual ka Bifie and Maccan plateau in Mabifia. The region has both a physical and human significance. It forms a highland between the Masamongo and Kolopegi ranges which attracts high precipitation due to its position on the windward side of the Kolopegi, which form a rain shadow affecting the Boual. The Central Green Belt is important in the ethnolinguistic plan of Mabifia as well, as its ethnic and religious diversity serves as a kind of transition zone between Inner Mabifia and Outer Mabifia. The Central Green Belt has been highly important historically, disputed between the Houregeries of the Boual and Plateau, before being dominated by the Kambou Empire in Late Hourege.
History
Prehistory
Hourege
Colonial period
Modern era
Geography
Human geography
The Central Green Belt is a region of great ethnolinguistic and religious diversity, peopled by a vast array of different ethnic groups. Unlike the Boual ka Bifie or Maccan plateau, which are dominated by an ethnic group with a clear plurality or majority, the Central Green Belt has no one ethnic group which occupies the dominant position. This is likely a result of the region's geographic relief, as the hilly country with many mountains and valleys facilitates greater independence of smaller communities by providing naturally defensible terrain. Ethnic groups present in the Central Green Belt include Ouloume groups such as the Ekole, Lolemo and Icibare, Bélé peoples, including the Saban and Anana people, and the Sewa. Tensions between rival groups is common, and while peace was violently enforced under the Mabifian Democratic Republic the region saw significant inter-communal violence during the Second Mabifian Civil War.
A feature of the Central Green Belt is the dominance of sedentary agriculture, particularly in the cultivation of yams, as opposed to transhumance as practiced on the Boual ka Bifie. The population of the Central Green Belt is predominantly rural, urbanisation having been abandoned following the ethnic tensions of the second civil war. The Central Green Belt is one of the poorest regions of Mabifia, as its needs are often ignored by the predominantly Boualic ruling elite. An example of this is in the herder-farmer conflicts in the Boual ka Bifie, which have been a recent flashpoint of tensions between Ndjarendie herders and the sedentary farmers of the region. This conflict has re-ignited many tensions in the region, especially along religious lines, but as much of the ruling Bahian Renaissance Party are also Ndjarendie they are unwilling to negotiate a solution which would jeopardise herder rights to pasturage.
As a barrier between the predominantly Irfanic north and Sotirian south, the Central Green Belt is highly religiously diverse. While Irfan is the largest religion in the region, with roughly 50% of the population of the Central Green Belt professing to Irfanic faith, the region has significant populations following both Catholicism and even Bahian Fetishism. This patchwork of religions, which are relativey evenly spread across the belt, has resulted in a large degree of syncretism and it is common for Fetishist practices such as the consulting of oracles to be one by both Irfanic and Catholic faithful. The rise of politicised Irfan in Mabifia has contributed to a wave of sectarian violence in the region, particularly in the urban areas which are majority Irfanic and where the rural Fetishist communities are seen with a degree of suspicion.