The Logo people or Logoa (plural) are an ethnic group of Nilotic origin who live predominantly in the north-east of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

as well as parts of western

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

and southern

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

. There are believed to be more than 200,000 people who identify as ethnically Logo of whom most live in the Congo's

Faradje Territory Faradje Territory is an administrative area in the Haut-Uele Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The main town is Faradje, lying on the Dungu River. In January and February 2011 the Lords Resistance Army attacked people in the ter ...

, a remote region in Haut-Uélé Province, where they form the ethnic majority. Logo people also live in Watsa and

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, both also in Haut-Uélé, and in Yei in South Sudan. The ethnic group is traditionally associated with the

Logo language Logo is a Central Sudanic language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by 210,000 people in 1989 according to SIL SIL, Sil and sil may refer to: Organizations * Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan * Smithsonian Institution Librar ...

, known as ''Logoti'', from the Nilo-Saharan family. The language has an estimated 210,000 speakers. A further 100,000 speak the related dialect known as ''Ogambi''. Logoti is similar in derivation to the Nilotic Kaliko, Bari and Lugbara languages spoken in the same region. The word ''logo'' means "human being" in the local language. Historically, the Logoa were less powerful than the important Mangbetu and Azande ethnic groups in the same region. Originating in the Sudan, the Logoa were progressively pushed southwards into their current territories around Faradje by rival ethnic groups and especially expanding Azande influence in the 19th century. Their remote location within the Congo meant that they were however able to avoid becoming subject peoples. The Logoa are divided into a number of tribal units and do not form a single

polity A polity is an identifiable political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any other group of p ...

. According to anthropologist Jan Vansina, the territory occupied by the Logoa and the Avukaya ethnic group forms a distinct geographic unit.

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