Watsa is a community in the Haut-Uele Province 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 ...

, administrative center of the

Watsa Territory Watsa Territory is an administrative area in the Haut-Uele province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The administrative center is the town of Watsa. Security issues During the Second Congo War (1998-2003), in August 1998, Ugandan troops ...

. It is served by

Watsa Airport Watsa Airport is an airport serving the town of Watsa in Haut-Uélé Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. See also * * *Transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo *List of airports in the Democratic Republic of the Congo This is ...

, a grass

airstrip An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) 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 publ ...

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

Force Publique The ''Force Publique'' (, "Public Force"; nl, Openbare Weermacht) was a gendarmerie and military force in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1885 (when the territory was known as the Congo Free State), through the period of ...

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 hemorrhagi ...

and Ravn virus caused 154 cases of

Marburg virus disease Marburg virus disease (MVD; formerly Marburg hemorrhagic fever) is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and primates caused by either of the two Marburgviruses: Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). Its clinical symptoms are very similar t ...

and 128 deaths among illegal gold miners in Watsa and the nearby

Durba Mine The Kibali Gold Mine is a combined open pit and underground gold mine in the Haut-Uélé province of the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo. By area, it is one of the largest in Africa. The mine is named for the nearby Kibali River. Loc ...

. 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 of ...

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