Aru is a

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

Ituri Ituri is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Orientale province. Ituri was ...

province,

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, and the name of the territory's administrative capital, Aru Town. The territory is located at the northern edge of the province, on the border with

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

to the east and

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

to the north. During the 1998-2006 war in the Congo, Aru was the base of the Ugandan-backed Armed Forces of the Congolese People (FAPC) group, headed by Jérôme Kakwavu. While the war had a severe impact on the region, Aru was spared the atrocities that ravaged the rest of Ituri district. This was, in part, due to the territory's diversity of tribes who had been accustomed to living peacefully together. While Aru Town is the administrative capital of the territory, Ariwara, which is close to Arua, Uganda, is its economic hub where businesspeople from DRC, Southern Sudan and Uganda meet to trade cows, manufactured goods and other products. Smuggling of

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals ...

and other contraband also occurs.https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/09fe72/4966ba58.pdf Aru has a small airport but no public electricity grid, although

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

was up until recently supplying electricity to Aru Town using electric generators. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

peacekeeping force in the Congo,

MONUC The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

, maintained a base of operations in Aru in the later stages of the war to assist with the conduct of elections in the area. The operation was successful with over 85% of voters registering and voting; no serious incidents were registered in the territory.

Politics

Aru Territory is represented in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

by five deputies: *Medard Autsai ( PPRD) *Daniel Banio ( COFEDEC) *Norbert Ezadri (MCR) *Patrice Ezaty (MIP) *Lebon Mambo (RRC)

References

Territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Populated places in Ituri Province {{DRCongo-geo-stub