Shabunda Territory

Shabunda is a territory of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Shabunda is the largest territory in the province, covering more than 25,000 square kilometres.

Shabunda within South Kivu

According to the Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, in 2002 it was "home to over a million people. The administrative centre, Shabunda, is nearly 3,000 km from the capital, Kinshasa. There are no postal services and no radio. Only landing strips keep the territory from being completely cut off".[1]. It is possible to access Shabunda by motorbike from Kindu but it is a two day trip.

In June 1997 reports surfaced of a massacre of refugees in February that year at a bridge over the Ulindi River just north of the town of Shabunda. The refugees included unarmed civilians and armed Hutu fighters who had been involved in the 1994 massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda. They were attacked by Rwandan Tutsi troops who were fighting with the rebel forces of Laurent Kabila to overthrow the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. Witnesses said that hundreds of people were killed.[2]

Politics

Shabunda Territory is represented in the National Assembly by two deputies:

• Benjamin Mukulungu (PPPD)
• Mwenebantu Amuri (NAD)

References

1. Charles Mampasu, Shabunda: the 'forgotten Kosovo' Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, Issue 20, March 2002
2. DIANNA CAHN (June 29, 1997). "Witnesses say troops killed refugees at bridge in Zaire 6/29/97". Associated Press. Retrieved 2011-12-10.