The Duru-Verre (Verre, Vere, Were) are a small ethnic group in contemporary Cameroon and in Gongola State in Nigeria.
They are a subdivisión of the Baya-Mbun cluster of peoples in the western reaches of the Central African Republic and in eastern Cameroon.
Globally, this group totals 208,500 in 2 countries.
The Vere of Cameroon are numbering 12,500 and the Vere of Nigeria are numbering 196,000 (Peoplegroups.org, 2023)
People live in nuclear or extended family compounds consisting of mud-walled houses protected by a fence or wall. They practice slash-and- burn agriculture and concéntrate on producing maize and cassava, which they consume themselves and market for cash. They have learned how to raise cattle for their Fulbe neighbors.
Third of Verre are Muslims. The others practice Chris- tianity and/or a variety of tribal animist faiths. The conversión of the Duru-Verres to Islam began early in the 1800s, when Fulbe and Hausa groups established trading relationships with them. Christian missionaries first reached them in the 1920s.
Traditional beliefs in ancestor worship and witchcraft still exist, but they are losing ground. Duru-Verre society is organized around patrilineal clans.
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