Yakoma people
Yakoma are an ethnic group in the Central African Republic (CAR), who make up 4%[citation needed] of the population of the country. Though, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, "The Yakoma, like most inhabitants of the Central African Republic, are of Bantu origin. Therefore, based only on their physiognomy, it is not possible to distinguish them without risk of error from members of other ethnic groups of the same origin."
The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada states, "The Yakoma, including their language, physiognomy and geographic location; whether it is possible to identify members of this ethnic group by their family names and whether certain names are common among the Yakoma" makes it difficult to accurately number the population of the Yakoma people.[1] "However, the Yakoma can be identified by their dialect, which is also called Yakoma. Although very similar to Sango - the dialect of the Sango, another ethnic group living in the same area as the Yakoma - the accent is different among members of these two ethnic groups."[1]
André-Dieudonné Kolingba, president of the CAR from 1979 to 1993, was a member of this group.[2] 10,000 also reside in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Central African Republic: The Yakoma. Accessed 9 January 2013
- ↑ Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2001 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. March 4, 2002
- ↑ Yakoma. A language of Central African Republic. Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version.