The Uele, also known by the phonetically identical Uélé, Ouélé, or Welle River, is a river in the

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 ...

Course

The Uele forms at Dungu, at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of the Dungu and Kibali rivers, which both originate in the mountains near Lake Albert. Combined these rivers flow west for about , until the Uele joins the

Mbomou River The Mbomou River or Bomu (also spelled M'bomou in French) forms part of the boundary between the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Mbomou merges with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. The U ...

at Yakoma. Main tributaries to the Uele river are the Bomokandi River (left side) and Uere River (right side). The Uele–Mbomou confluence at Yakoma marks the origin of the

Ubangi River The Ubangi River (), also spelled Oubangui, is the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River in the region of Central Africa. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mean annual dischar ...

, which in turn flows into the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharg ...

. The Uele is the longest tributary of the Ubangi. The combined Ubangi–Uele length is about . From satellite images, parts of the river look red from the

iron oxide Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of wh ...

contaminants in the river.

Gallery

File:Satellite Images of the Uele River.png, Aerial imagery showing the red color of the river.

References

External links

* Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ecoregions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tributaries of the Ubangi River {{DRCongo-river-stub