Dungu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Dungu ( ) is a town in Haut-Uele Province located at the confluence of the Dungu and Kibali Rivers, south of the Garamba National Park. Dungu's terrain is wooded savannah, and its climate is tropical.

It is the principal town in Dungu Territory. It has a hospital, nursing school, high school, Internet cafe, and a cathedral—as it is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Doruma–Dungu. The town is divided into four main neighbourhoods: Uye (south), Mussa (south center), Ngilima (center) and Bamokandi (north).

There is an airport (ICAO code FZJC) in Dungu-Uye with an unpaved runway.

In 2004 its population was estimated at over 23,000.The major tribe is the Azande, and the national language used locally is Lingala. Some people speak a dialect of Lingala called Bangala, which contains many words from Zande, Swahili, and other languages.

Colonial History

In 1942, the Belgian territorial administrator Schollaert was given the task of building a bridge across the Dungu River. Instead of building a two-lane bridge as ordered, he built a one-lane bridge. With the remaining bricks he built a medieval style castle with 40 rooms between the Dungu and Kibali rivers.

Recent History and Current Situation

Since the early 1990s, Sudanese refugees from the Second Sudanese Civil War have settled north of Dungu in...
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