Lusambo
Provincial capital and city
Ville de Lusambo
Lusambo is located in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Lusambo
Lusambo
Coordinates: 4°58′22″S 23°26′12″E / 4.972912°S 23.436756°E / -4.972912; 23.436756
Country DR Congo
ProvinceSankuru
CommunesKabondo, Lupembe, Lusambo, Tusuanganyi
Government
 • MayorLouis Manga[1]
Time zoneUTC+2 (Central Africa Time)
ClimateAw

Lusambo is the capital city of Sankuru province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town lies north of the confluence of the Sankuru River and the Lubi River.[2][3][4] Lusambo is served by Lusambo Airport.

A native band in 1903

In 1890 Lusambo was chosen by Paul Le Marinel as the main Belgian base in the Kasai region to defend against the Arab or Swahili traders in slaves and ivory who came from the east. The station would soon become one of the most important military posts of the Congo Free State with a permanent staff of seventeen whites, six hundred native soldiers and four artillery pieces.[5]

In 1999 the new Kabila government and its ally, the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe, claimed that U.S. mercenaries were helping Ugandan and Rwandan-backed rebel forces who had surrounded 700 Zimbabwean troops near Lusambo during the Second Congo War.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Sankuru: la population encouragée à collaborer avec le nouveau maire de Lusambo" (in French). Agence congolaise de presse (ACP). 22 March 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  2. ^ National Geographic Atlas of the World: Revised Sixth Edition, National Geographic Society, 1992
  3. ^ www.maplandia.com
  4. ^ www.geonames.org
  5. ^ De Coster, Pieter (1997). "Biografie van Paul Le Marinel". De eerste Europese ontdekkingsreizen in Katanga 1797-1897 (in Dutch).
  6. ^ Smith, Alex Duval (2 December 1999). "Foreign troops under siege as war rages in Congo, four months after peace deal". The Independent. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
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