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Butembo is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in
North Kivu North Kivu () is a Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital city is Goma. Spanning approximately 59,483 square kilometers with a population esti ...
, in the north eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
, on the Rwenzori graben and west of
Virunga National Park Virunga National Park is a national park in the Albertine Rift Valley in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1925. In elevation, it ranges from in the Semliki River valley to in the Rwenzori Mountains. ...
. The city is an important commercial centre with large markets, a
cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...
, multiple large
hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
s, and an airport. It is the city where live the most prosperous businessmen of the East of the country. The city is located in a region known for
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
and
coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
growing. As of 2024 it had an estimated population of 154,621.


Overview

Butembo is 90% populated by the Nande tribe, a community distinguished by ethnic solidarity, conservative moral standards and influential leaders. The city is home to the 2nd Integrated Brigade of the
Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Armed (May, 1941–1964) was an American Thoroughbred gelding race horse who was the American Horse of the Year in 1947 and Champion Older Male Horse in both 1946 and 1947. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame ...
, the Institut Kambali, founded in 1959, the (UCG), founded in 1989, and the Adventist University of Lukanga (UNILUK), founded in 1979.


Geography

A marker indicating the line of the equator is about twenty-five kilometers south of the city. Area: 190.3 km2, three times larger than the city of
Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...
. Population: 2,000,000 inhabitants, mostly from the Nande tribe. Altitude: 1,381m. Location: 44 km from Lubero, 54 km from Beni and 307 km from
Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...
. It straddles the two territories of Lubero (territory) and Beni (territory). The Musienene Special Economic Zone is located 17 km south of the city.


Demographics

French, Swahili and Kinande are all spoken in the city. Butembo is 90% populated by the Nande tribe.


Administration

Administratively, Butembo has four
communes A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
: Bulengera, Kimemi, Mususa and Vulamba. Following various flows of displaced persons fleeing the war, the city has seen its population grow rapidly. It has about two million inhabitants, a 2022 estimate. The city has 28 quarters (fr ''quartiers''), distributed as follows: 1. Bulengera commune has 9 quarters: Kalemire, Kamesi Mbonzo, Kimbulu, Kyaghala, Mukuna, Mutiri, Rughenda, Wayene and Eveché. 2. Kimemi commune has 8 quarters: Biondi, Bwinyole, Commercial, Lumumba, Malende, Ngerengere, Vutetshe and Vutsundo. 3. Mususa commune has 7 quarters: Bwinongo, Katwa, Kitulu, Matanda, Ngingi, Vigholo and Vungi. 4. Vulamba commune has 4 quarters: Congo Ya Sika, Kambali, Matembe and Mukalangura. Butembo brings together all twelve Yira ( Nande) clans, which is why it is considered the extra-customary capital of this people.


Economy

The main activities of its inhabitants are trade, agriculture and livestock. Butembo is built thanks to the dynamism of its inhabitants alone. Indeed, thanks to the fallout from trade with especially the countries of
East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
, the
Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...
and the
Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
, the city is gradually being endowed with new buildings and charming private residences and it has become the warehouse of goods that supply the cities of Beni (city),
Bunia Bunia is the capital Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city of Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was part of the Orientale Province until that province's dissolution. It lies at an elevation of on a ...
,
Kisangani Kisangani (), formerly Stanleyville (), is the capital of Tshopo, Tshopo Province, located on the Congo River in the eastern part of the central Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the country's fifth-most populous urban a ...
,
Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...
,
Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu P ...
,
Kindu Kindu is a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the capital of Maniema province. It has a population of about 200,000 and is situated on the Lualaba River at an altitude of about 500 metres, and is about 400 km west of Bukavu. Kindu is ...
,
Isiro Isiro () is the capital of Haut-Uele Province in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies between the Tropical rainforest, equatorial forest and the savannah and its main resource is coffee. Isiro's population is est ...
, Buta, Bumba, and many others. The merchants of the city have their own airlines. Butembo has a hundred industries of coffee, cocoa, beverages, sheet metal, tar, candy,... The surrounding villages are home to
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...
,
coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
, cocoa and
cinchona ''Cinchona'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae containing at least 23 species of trees and shrubs. All are native to the Tropical Andes, tropical Andean forests of western South America. A few species are ...
plantations.


Education

Butembo is home to a large number of quality educational institutions recognized in the Great Lakes region.


Universities

* Graben Catholic University, founded in 1989 * Africans Bakhita faculties, founded in 2002 * Lukanga Adventist University * Free University of the Great Lakes Region, founded in 2000 * Official University of Ruwenzori (UOR) * University of the Assumption in Congo (UAC), founded in 1982 * Kasugho University of Nature Conservation and Development (UCNDK) * Higher Pedagogical Institute of Muhangi * Institute of Buildings and Public Works (IBTP) * Higher Institute of Applied Chemistry (ISCA) * Higher Institute of Commerce (ISC BUTEMBO)


High schools

* Malkia Wa Mbingu * Kambali Institute (formerly Pie-X) * Agricultural and Veterinary Technical Institute (ITAV) * Monseigneur-Kataliko Institute * Mahamba Industrial Technical Institute * Oriental Mage School Complex * Vulindi Major Seminary


Health

Butembo is home to several major hospitals in northeastern DRC, including: * Katwa General Referral Hospital; * Matanda Hospital; * Caritas Hospital; * Holy Family Hospital in Mukuna; * Vuhimba Hospital; * IRIS medical and surgical center.


History

Before 1924, the village of Lusando served as the residence of the Mwami of the Bayora. It was a center dedicated to the trade of salt from Lake Katwe (Uganda), fish and "milumba", beaten bark cloth, from neighboring regions. From 1928 to 1930, the Compagnie Minière des Grands-Lacs (MGL) set up the administrative headquarters of the northern branch of its operations in Butembo, which became the transit and acclimatization center for the workforce located at road junctions. In the 1930s to 1940s, a core of Europeans composed mainly of traders and industrialists settled 1 km south of the MGL headquarters on either side of the Congo-Nile road, the current Route National 2. It is the genesis of an indigenous town between Kambali hill and Ruwenzori avenue. In the 1943 edition of Codes et Lois du Congo Belge, annotated by Léon Strouvens with Pierre Piron, the name of Butembo was already mentioned in decree no. 47 of August 19, 1937, relating to the urban districts of the province of "Constermansville", future Kivu then fragmented into North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema. This decree recognizes Butembo as a large village. Subsequently, in 1949 by Order No. 21/053 of September 23, 1949 in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance-Law No. 170/AIMO of July 20, 1945 establishing indigenous cities, Butembo was recognized as an indigenous city. From 1950 to 1959, Butembo then reached the avenue des écoles, the Congo ya Sika district with respectively 9,653 inhabitants in 1957 and 11,189 inhabitants in 1959. The year 1958 marked the signing of Ordinance No. 97/138 of the May 15, 1956 subjecting Butembo to the regime of the decree of February 21, 1949 relating to town planning. Butembo is therefore recognized as an extra-customary center by Decree No. 221/180 of September 12, 1958. The following decade, the city will extend to Goma Avenue, the Vungi cell, Kimemi, Londo, Muhayirwa and Vihya. With a population of 26,065 inhabitants. In 1962, a law was passed by the assembly of Kivu-Maniema to elevate Butembo to the rank of commune. In 1963, Butembo became the capital of the Lake Edward district. In 1965 was the transfer of the bishopric of the diocese of Beni to Butembo. Repeal of the status of urban commune enjoyed by Butembo following the abolition of the province of North Kivu and the District of Lake Edward in 1967. Butembo was still governed according to the local community system until 1970. Butembo will then be recognized as a city among the cities created by presidential decrees. The years 1970 to 1979, the city of Butembo is composed of 6 districts named Kambali, Matanda, Vungi, Lumumba, Congo ya Sika and President of the Republic. Later it expands east to Kitulu, Kisingiri, south to Kalimbute, Vutetse, Vulumbi, Vulema and Vuhika. The population then numbered 50,921 in 1975 and 69,227 in 1979. In 1980, Butembo became the residence of a sub-regional deputy commissioner, from where he supervised the administration of the Beni and Lubero zones between 1980 and 1985 In 1987: Butembo is registered on the list of 83 cities recognized and/or created in Zaire by presidential decrees n° 87/231 to 87/238 of 29/6/1987. Around the year 1987 when Butembo had 92,932 inhabitants and the period of the 1990s, a neighboring agglomeration, that of Makerere in the chiefdom-community of Bashu developed while in the chiefdom of Baswagha, the localities of Vohakatwa, Mukuna, Ivatama, Malera, Rughenda, Katsya and Vutsundo are experiencing remarkable population growth, bringing the population to 141,707. In 1988: Opening of the Catholic University of Graben in Butembo with faculties of human and veterinary medicine, agronomy and economics. In 1993: Inauguration of the first private satellite telecommunications station PATELSAT (telephone, television, fax, etc.). In 1999: The city of Butembo was granted city status by decree n° 01/001 bis/CAB/GP-MK/99 of September 29, 1999, creating the cities of Beni and Butembo in the provinces of North Kivu, by the rebel authorities of the RCD/K-ML who had chosen Beni as the seat of their political institution during the second so-called war of liberation which broke out on 2 August 1999, in the DRC. In 2001: The president of the RCD/K-ML the Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi, son of the region, signed decree No. 2001/038 on December 22 on the creation and delimitation of the city of Butembo and its municipalities in the province of North Kivu. The President of the Republic Joseph Kabila signed Decree No. 042/2003 of March 28, 2003 recognizing Butembo as a city and setting its boundaries. According to this evolution, it can be seen that Butembo has escaped the application of the planning decrees of 1949 and 1957, which affects its urban fabric.


Ebola

Ebola broke out in August 2018 in North Kivu province. A series of attacks on Ebola treatment centers in Butembo led up to the death of a policeman in March 2019 and of a doctor in April 2019. Locals mistakenly believe aid workers brought the virus to the area. More than 102,000 people received an experimental vaccine in this period, but 843 of 1300 confirmed and probable Ebola patients died. Treatment centers were earlier torched in Butembo and Katwa, and medical professionals threatened to strike.


Climate


References


External links


Butembo in Google Maps

YouTube Video of Nella Star
(2007) Video by Godfried van Loo following Dutch sociologist/anthropologist Nella Star when going back to Butembo after over 30 years. With a lot of footage from the city Butembo and surroundings. Dutch/French spoken and subtitled. {{Coord, 0, 09, N, 29, 17, E, region:CD_type:city, display=title Butembo Cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo