The Asua or Asoa, also known as the Aka, are an

Mbuti The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages. Subgroups Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the oldest ...

pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a po ...

people of the

Ituri forest The Ituri Rainforest (French language, French: ''Forêt tropicale de l’Ituri'') is a rainforest located in the Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The forest's name derives from the nearby Ituri River which flows ...

. They speak a

Central Sudanic Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nige ...

language, ''Asuati'', and are the only Pygmy group in the east to have their own language, though it is closely related to Mangbetu. The Asua have a patron–vassal relationship with several neighboring peoples, including, the Malele, Meegye, Makere, Popoyi, Mangbetu, and Abulu (all Central Sudanic) and the Liko and Ndaka (both Bantu). The Asua or Asoa speak a central Sudanic language Asuati .

References

African Pygmies Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Africa-ethno-group-stub