Niangara Territory is an administrative region in the
Haut-Uele province of the
Democratic Republic of the 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 ...
. Its headquarters is the town of
Niangara
Niangara is a town in the Haut-Uele Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, lying on both sides of the Uele River. It is the headquarters of the Niangara Territory.
The town has a hospital operated by Médecins Sans Frontières.
As o ...
, lying on both sides of the
Uele River.
Economy
At least 33,000 people in the territory have no local access to clean water.
[
]
Security problems
In January 2010, attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...
(LRA) in Niangara Territory displaced about 45,000 people to Rungu Territory in the Haut-Uélé District. It was reported that the Internally Displaced People were living in schools and other public buildings.
In May 2010 a group calling itself "The human rights defenders of Niangara" published an appeal to U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
to take more effective action against the LRA.
There are many other stories of brutality by the LRA, which holds the territory in a reign of fear.[
As of April 2010 the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo had a base in Niangara town. However, the peacekeepers had few troops and the roads in the area are poor, so they rarely leave the town.
They have neither prevented nor responded to the attacks by the LRA.
In October 2010 it was reported that several villages in the territory had been invaded by " Mbororo" nomadic pastoralists.
These people originally came from the ]Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...
, settling in the DRC during the civil war.
They are armed, and drove away the villagers whose land they occupied.
Divisions
The territory is divided into chiefdoms:
References
Territories of Haut-Uélé Province
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