Kafubu is a river in the

Haut-Katanga Province Haut-Katanga (French for "Upper Katanga") is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the Subdivisions of the DR Congo#New provinces, 2015 repartitioning. Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba Province, Lualaba, an ...

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 ...

. It gives its name to a health zone.

Course

The Kafubu River is the main river of

Kipushi Territory Kipushi is a territory in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The main river is the long Kafubu River, which flows through the territory from east to west to join the Lualaba River The Lualaba River (, , ) flows en ...

. It is about long. It originates in the Shimpauka village (Kaponda chiefdom) and runs through the territory from east to west to join the Luapula river at Kanga village (Kinama chiefdom). It forms near the city of

Kipushi Kipushi is a town in Haut-Katanga province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies 35 km southwest of the city of Lubumbashi, very close to the border with Zambia, at an altitude of 1329 m (4363 ft).''National Geographic Atlas o ...

, passes through the south of

Lubumbashi Lubumbashi ( , ; former ; former ) is the second-largest Cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in the country's southeasternmost part, along the border with Zambia. The capital ...

and then runs eastward through the Kafubu health zone to the border with Zambia where it joins the

Luapula River The Luapula River is a north-flowing river of central Africa, within the Congo River watershed. It rises in the wetlands of Lake Bangweulu (Zambia), which are fed by the Chambeshi River. The Luapula flows west then north, marking the border betw ...

. ''

Labeo polli ''Labeo polli'' is a species of fish in the genus ''Labeo'' from the Congo Basin The Congo Basin () is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. The Congo Basin is located in Central Africa, in a region known as west equatorial Africa. The Con ...

'', an edible carp, is found only in the Kafubu River and the Kanshéle River (Kivu), both in the Upper Congo River basin. Villages in the Kafubu Valley include Chileuge, Kibulu, Mwenda, Kiponda, and Kamankanga. The farmers mainly grow corn as a cash crop. They plow and sow the corn by hand, but are unable to afford fertilizer, so yields are low.

Pollution

In 2002 and 2003

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

consultants at SNC-Lavalin International studied 32 copper and cobalt mining sites in Katanga. They found that waste from the Luiswishi cobalt mine being processed Kipushi in was discharged into the Kafubu River and surrounding fields. A sample of the waste showed high levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead and zinc. These cause damage to humans and to the river fauna.

Health zone

In July 2015 the rural health zone recorded a case of poliovirus derived from the vaccine strain (VDPV) type 2. In March 2016 Dr Yokouidé Allarangar, World Health Organization representative in the DRC, visited the district to encourage the management team of the health zone to improve vaccination coverage.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kafubu Rivers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo