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Q. How should Biffeche people traveling
overseas get aid?
A. The Kingdom maintains an American Office and a
European Office. In Europe, contact
the European Office of the Kingdom of Biffeche,
APDO.Correos 47008, 28080
Madrid, Spain. In
the Americas and Caribbean, contact the American Office of the
Kingdom of Biffeche, 6152 115th Place, Seminole, FL 33772, USA. Limited help
may be available in cases of genuine emergency or need, depending on
the circumstances. If possible, communications should be in French,
Spanish or English. The Kingdom unfortunately has no support for its
subjects, or representation, in Asia or Oceana at this time. Q. Does the Kingdom maintain an office or
legation in Dakar or Nouakchott?
A. No, not permanently. Persons in
Dakar, Sénégal or Nouakchott, Mauritanie should deal directly with
the relevant Chefs and officials in Biffeche itself.
Q. How can I visit Biffeche?
A. See the
section on "Visiting Biffeche". It is very convenient
to visit Biffeche and we vigorously welcome all visitors to our
friendly Kingdom.
Q. Is any special permission or visa needed for
outside tourists to visit the Kingdom?
A. No. But it is often good
to make some contact with a Biffeche Overseas Office in advance. Sénégal
does not normally require visas of American or European tourists for
stays of less than 30 days. Mauritanie does. Both require passports.
All people are welcome in Biffeche. As you approach any village in
Biffeche, your first act is to check in with the Chef de Village;
see the section on Cultural Practices for appropriate customary
cadeau (small symbolic gifts and trinkets for the Chef). Passports
of visitors are stamped with a Biffeche "Marque de Visite"
once you are in Biffeche.
Q. How can I obtain CFA money for use in
Biffeche?
A. In Dakar, Sénégal, at the banks at Place
d'Independence; or, at the Banque Islamique du Sénégal or the
Hotel de la Poste in Saint-Louis, Sénégal. US Dollars and new Euro
are most readily accepted for conversion to CFA money. (Note that
the Biffeche Dinar-Haut (BDH) is not currently available to the
general public, and that it is not necessary for transacting the
commerce within the Kingdom.)
Q. I am interested in obtaining an aristocratic
title. Can this be arranged?
A. ABSOLUTELY NOT. Biffeche's very few
aristocratic titles are hereditary, depending on the original
grants. Titles of nobility have been
granted by the Kings only in very rare cases to a few people of the
highest character and impeccable background who have given
extraordinary service to the Kingdom or created great programs and
resources for the people of Biffeche. It is not possible even to ask
officially, since it is always a rare spontaneous act of the
monarch.
Q. What about Knighthoods?
A. Knighthoods are
conferred only upon those in and out of Africa who perform services
benefiting the people of Biffeche, and the specifics depend on the
rules of each order. (See the section on
Orders, Decorations and Knighthood.) Under Biffeche law, the
monarch is the sole "font of honor" and there is no way
to obtain Knighthood except through the grace and act of our King.
Those who buy and sell Biffeche orders and decorations are merely
collecting the regalia, not the Knighthood itself.
Q. Does the Kingdom of Biffeche recognize the
current claimant to the throne of the Kingdom of Diolof?
A. Yes, but we recognize
Diolof not as having ever had any suzerainty over
Biffeche legitimately, but rather as a brother Kingdom which was
conquered by the French over a century ago.
Q. What is the relation between the Kingdom of
Biffeche and the Kingdom of Axim, in Ghana?
A. There is legally a
"personal union" of the two Kingdoms in that they share
the same King. The King of Biffeche is always also the the King of
Axim on the Ghana coast. (This is similar to the current Queen of
the U.K. being also Queen of Canada.) Although the late Bishop
Essuah of Sekondi-Tekoradi, Ghana, declared Axim to be "a part
of Biffeche" in the 1970's, Axim is not technically
administered as a "part" of Biffeche any more than
Biffeche is "part" of Axim, and of course neither is a
colony of the other. The respective peoples of Axim
and Biffeche have always had harmonious relations.
Q. How can I contact the Royal family?
A.
Details of the Royal family are not public.
Q. Is the Biffeche Dragon the largest lizard
species in Africa?
A. Yes. There is currently some debate about
species, however, and about which species is the second-biggest
dragon on earth: A large Biffeche Dragon is larger than the related
Nile Monitor, but possibly no larger than a large Salvatore Dragon
or normal-sized Komodo Dragon. It has been said that the Biffeche
Dragon is the second-largest lizard in the world, second only to the
Komodo Dragon, despite this. No reputable zoologist has ever
demonstrated credibly that the offspring (if any could exist) of a
Biffeche Dragon and a Nile Monitor would necessarily be fertile
(indicating that they are really one species). In the absence of
such evidence, it is unscientific and irresponsible to claim that
they are one species and not two, until such evidence is properly
adduced, confirmed and published. The Biffeche people have never in
history called our Dragon a "Nile Monitor" nor have we
used any phrase that would even suggest it. No western herpetologist
or zoo has ever bought or kept a Biffeche Dragon, and it is not
allowed.
Q. Is there any other black African Kingdom
besides Biffeche with a white, foreign-born King?
A. Yes, there are
at least four such Kingdoms: Biffeche, Mepe (within Ghana), Axim
(within Ghana), and a fourth in a central African region that should
not be widely publicized at this time. The King of Biffeche and of
Axim is (the same) the Ngoryifia
of the Mepe Kingdom in Ghana is Henk
Otte of the Netherlands (Togbe Korsi Ferdinand Gakpetor
II), and the King of the fourth mentioned Kingdom is American. In
addition, Africans in Ceuta and Melilla on the coast of Afrique du
Nord are subject to the (white, Spanish) King, H.M.C.M, Juan-Carlos
I, King of Spain. The installation of certain Europeans as honorary
chiefs or sub-chiefs (like Roland James Moxon in the Aburi Kingdom,
or the famed American musician Issac Hayes enstooled in 1992 as Honorary
Development King of the Ada Traditional Area, Ghana, and
Honorary Chief of a tribe in Nigeria)
should not be confused with true Kingship.
Q. How can I get a press interview with the
King?
A. You cannot; the King does not grant audiences or interviews
to the press. The King is concerned with helping the people of
Biffeche with health, agricultural, economical and other problems;
outside of Biffeche, his life is private.
Q. What is the population of Biffeche?
A. This
depends on who is included. Some borders of Biffeche are precise
(e.g. along the river) while others are imprecise. In addition,
Biffeche has quasi-nomadic pastoralists (Fula/Peulh) who are adherents
and subjects of the Kingdom and seasonally leave and enter the
Kingdom, as well as some Biffeche subjects living in other places
and countries. Also, certain remote villages have lost touch.
Nonetheless, the current population is probably in excess of 40,000
people by
any calculation. This excludes various 'adherents' of the King who
live in neighboring parts of Sénégal, Mauritanie and elsewhere,
and it excludes the entire population of the Kingdom Of Axim in
Ghana. Axim's population is currently somewhat less than
50,000.
FAQ continued on Page 2 |
