When Kijuju was established is uncertain, though the prevalence of English over French in the region suggests it was at one time under the control of a British colony. Throughout the 2000s, the country fell into a long and destructive civil war which resulted in the government's overthrow with an unstable and ineffectual leadership which held extreme nationalistic beliefs. Though Kijuju and the wider Kijuju Autonomous Zone was spared from the worst elements of the war, the government's rhetoric was quickly commandeered by civilians harbouring deeply xenophobic views, leading to an increase in racist graffiti and attacks on foreigners by 2008. During this time, an Islamist group including soldiers in its ranks secured the purchase of Type-2 Plagas from Tricell, which they dispersed around the city to recruit a rebel army. By the start of 2009 Kijuju was thrown into chaos once more with mobs of rebel recruits - dubbed the "Majini" - resulting in the sealing of much of the city behind a quarantine wall. The UN mission in Kijuju, spearheaded by the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, led to an escalation of violence in the city as Tricell's B.O.W.s were deployed to aid the rebels. With the BSAA suffering intense casualties, the UN or national government authorised an aerial bombing of the city to put down resistance. Over the following weeks, the NGO TerraSave entered the city to rescue survivors, encountering continued resistance from Majini rebels. Rather than continue fighting, the Army abandoned the Majini behind the quarantine walls, and the city was effectively abandoned.