In Gbaya, the notion of «lay waste» (or «make waste») is emphasized with lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti, an ideophone used to describe complete destruction, devastation.
Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
See also is laid waste and other occurrences of lɔkɔti-lɔkɔti.