Mpoko River

The Mpoko River is a river in Central African Republic It is a tributary of the Oubangui River. The river is located near the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui.

The Oubangui River basin with the Mpoko (center left)

Description

It is a small tributary off the Oubangui river, which is a tributary off the larger Congo River.[1] The Mpoko River covers 23,900 km2 of land area and 86% savanna cover.[2] It begins on the Oubangui River near the capital, Bangui, and flows northwest. It drains a savanna dominated ecosystem.[2]

History surrounding Mpoko River

Starting in 1899, the French gave land commissions in the French Congo to 39 companies. The companies had to pay royalties to France and their main objective was the collection of rubber and ivory. One concessionary company called the "La Mpoko" was founded on July 10, 1899 with the intention of exploiting a concession that covered the basin of the Mpoko River and the other tributaries. Guilbrand Schiötz was appointed head of the company in Bimbo, in 1906 Gaston Guibet was appointed head. The chief of the Bouriki peoples came to Guibet with a complaint, armed company men were demanding more rubber in his village and committing violent crimes. In 1907 Guibet reported to the local judicial authorities the crimes committed by agents under La Mpoko. The agents would take women as hostages demanding certain rubber quotas and beat and kill many people for no apparent reason. Agents stationed there would often rape women while the men were away at work. Schiötz resigned and left Africa in 1907 right as Guibet began to start an investigation. The French Congo high commissioner Èmile Gentil asked Paris to shut La Mpoko down but was rejected and the minister in Paris claimed that legal procedures against the company's clients had to be completed first. On April 29, 1909 a persecutor in Brazzaville gave a verdict that relieved the company and clients of their crimes. Due to its bad reputation the La Mpoko concession was revoked in 1910 and the company was liquidated in February 1911.[3]

Turbidity

The Mpoko river was found to have high TSM levels around 78.0 mg L−1 contrasting from the low levels ranging around 0.7–16.0 mg L−1 from more rainforest dominated rivers.[4] TSM levels, standing for total suspended matter, depict how clear the water is in a river. Due to the surrounding savanna ecosystem, the water quality of the Mpoko River is highly turbid and not recommended for drinking.

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References
  1. Bouillon, Steven; Yambélé, Athanase; Gillikin, David P.; Teodoru, Cristian; Darchambeau, François; Lambert, Thibault; Borges, Alberto V. (2014-05-01). "Contrasting biogeochemical characteristics of right-bank tributaries of the Oubangui River, and a comparison with the mainstem river (Congo basin, Central African Republic)". Egu General Assembly Conference Abstracts. 16: 2774. Bibcode:2014EGUGA..16.2774B.
  2. Bianchi, Thomas; Allison, Mead; Cai, Wei-Jun (2014). Biogeochemical Dynamics at Major River-Coastal Interfaces: Linkages with Global Change. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107022577.
  3. Bradshaw, Richard; Fandos-Rius, Juan (2016-05-27). Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780810879928.
  4. Bouillon, Steven; Yambélé, Athanase; Gillikin, David P.; Teodoru, Cristian; Darchambeau, François; Lambert, Thibault; Borges, Alberto V. (2014-06-23). "Contrasting biogeochemical characteristics of the Oubangui River and tributaries (Congo River basin)". Scientific Reports. 4 (1): 5402. doi:10.1038/srep05402. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 4066439. PMID 24954525.

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