The Lukenie River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

in the central Congo basin 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 ...

(DRC). River

barges Barge nowadays generally refers to a flat-bottomed inland waterway vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. The first modern barges were pulled by tugs, but nowadays most are pushed by pusher boats, or other vessels ...

from Kinshasa journey up the Congo, Kwah ( Kasai), and Fimi Rivers to the Lukenie as far as the landing at Kole, a journey of 6 to 12 weeks. This is not done during the low water season (June–August), however, for fear of stranding for long periods. The Lukenie is not navigable by barges above Kole. During the early Belgian colonial era, the river was sometimes used to transport rubber from posts such as Kole and Lodja down to Lake Leopold II. However, most supplies were brought overland from Bene Dibele, to the south on the right bank of the

Sankuru River The Sankuru River is a major river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its approximate length of 1,200 km"Sankuru River" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 10, p. 278. ...

just below the point where it is joined by the Lubefu River, a more reliable route. Some of the main logging concession areas of Sodefor are on both sides of the Lukenie River, centered on Oshwe. In September 2010 hundreds of people in Oshwe, a community in

Mai-Ndombe Province Mai-Ndombe is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Mai-Ndombe, Kwango, and Kwilu provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Bandundu province. Mai-Ndombe wa ...

, demonstrated against SODEFOR. They were demanding a halt to industrial logging in the region, which degrades the rainforest on which the community depends without bringing benefits to the impoverished community.

References

Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-river-stub