The Sere are an ethnic group numbering over 10,000 living in the South Sudanese state of Western Bahr el Ghazal.
In local tradition, the Zande king Ikpiro sent some of his people to conquer the Sere, but they were utterly defeated, their leaders being caught, burnt to death, and torn to pieces.
The Azande heaped up straw and wood all around them, and so the "flower" of the Sere were either burned alive or impaled when trying to flee.
Some of these returning Sere, who came from the Zande settled on the left of the river Bussere, south-west of the Balanda Bviri, and Rihan was appointed to rule them.
Later, they were ordered to join the other Sere community on the left of the Kpango river, under Chief Bandas Vito Umbili, where they remain to this day.