Watsa is a community 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 ...

, administrative center of the Watsa Territory. It is served by Watsa Airport, a grass

airstrip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes in ...

south of the town. Watsa was the location of the VI battalion of the

Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; ) was the military of the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo from 1885 to 1960. It was established after Belgian Army officers travelled to the Free State to found an armed force in the colony on L ...

in the 1940s and 1950s. Between 1998 and 2000, co-circulating

Marburg virus Marburg virus (MARV) is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the '' Filoviridae'' family of viruses and a member of the species '' Marburg marburgvirus'', genus '' Marburgvirus''. It causes Marburg virus disease in primates, a form of viral hemorrhag ...

and

Ravn virus Ravn virus (; RAVV) is a close relative of Marburg virus (MARV). RAVV causes Marburg virus disease, a form of viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. RAVV is a select agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen (re ...

caused 154 cases of

Marburg virus disease Marburg (; ) is a university town in the German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 76,000. Having been ...

and 128 deaths among illegal gold miners in Watsa and the nearby Durba Mine. In January and February 2011 the Lords Resistance Army attacked people in the territories of Dungu, Faradje,

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 ...

and Watsa, causing 33,000 people to be displaced. They were slow to return due to the feeble response of government security forces.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as tropical monsoon (Am).

References

Populated places in Haut-Uélé {{DRCongo-geo-stub