The Bassari of Guinea

The Bassari of Guinea, numbering approximately 22,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnic group indigenous to Senegal and Guinea, with some diaspora into Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. They are an Indigenous people, in the Atlantic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Oniyan.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bassari

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Guinea
People Cluster: Atlantic
Primary Language(s): Oniyan (bsc)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 22,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG013400
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bassari of Guinea

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

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Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Oniyan
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

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Media Resources in Oniyan:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Oniyan:

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Or check out the Oniyan bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Bassari

The Bassari are Unengaged and Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Next steps for the Bassari

The Bassari are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Next steps for the Bassari

The Bassari are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Bassari of Guinea

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
readMatthew 18:20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be encouraged as they remember that Jesus is with them when they gather in His name.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing.
read1 Corinthians 9:23

Ask God to give believers a deep desire to share the gospel with those who don't know the truth about God's redemption plan, and to provide them with opportunities to do so cross-culturally.

Bassari (ROP3 - 101114) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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