Manono is a town and

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

Tanganyika Province Tanganyika () is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami and Lualaba provinces are the result of the splitting up of the former Katanga province ...

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 ...

History

Manono was seriously affected by the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted ...

(1998-2003), with many buildings destroyed.

Rally for Congolese Democracy The Congolese Rally for Democracy (; abbreviated RCD), also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was suppo ...

rebels and allied

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

n soldiers took control of Manono in 1999. A hydro-electric power plant used to provide electricity, and the town used to have a

brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

, which supplied the surrounding region; both were destroyed during the war. The UN carried out arms decommissioning in 2008, offering to accept guns in exchange for a bicycle. The scheme was successful in removing weapons. Manono later became affected by the

Katanga insurgency The Katanga insurgency is an ongoing rebellion by a number of rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some of which aim for the creation of a separate state within Katanga Province, Katanga. While the insurgency has been active in v ...

; by 2014/15,

Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga Gédéon, (French language, French: ), is a French language masculine given name, derived from the prophet Gideon in the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible's Book of Judges. It is a cognate of the name Gideon. People named Gédéon include: *Géd� ...

, the leader of the

Mai Mai Kata Katanga Mai-Mai Kata Katanga, also called Mai-Mai Bakata Katanga, is a ''mai-mai'' rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which advocates the independence of the Congo's Katanga Province, fighting in the Katanga insurgency. It was formed shor ...

rebel group, operated in the area before relocating. Elements of his group continued to hold out in Manono Territory. In November 2021, three commanders and 169 Mai Mai Bakata Katanga militants surrendered to the government in Manono's Mpyana sector.

Location, economy, and culture

Manono lies on the western bank of the

Lukushi River The Lukushi River is a tributary of the Luvua River. It runs from south to north through the Malemba-Nkulu Territory of Haut-Lomami Province and the Manono Territory of Tanganyika Province, passing the twin tin-mining towns of Kitotolo and Man ...

, a tributary of the

Luvua River The Luvua River (or ''Lowa River'') () is a river in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It flows from the northern end of Lake Mweru on the Zambia-Congo border in a northwesterly direction for to its confluence ...

. The town is a

river port An inland port is a port on an inland waterway, such as a river, lake, or canal, which may or may not be connected to the sea. The term "inland port" is also used to refer to a dry port. Examples The United States Army Corps of Engineers pub ...

, with

barge A barge is typically a flat-bottomed boat, flat-bottomed vessel which does not have its own means of mechanical propulsion. Original use was on inland waterways, while modern use is on both inland and ocean, marine water environments. The firs ...

s bringing cargo from

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 ...

. Manono is also connected to a disused

railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

to Muyumba. The town lies along National Road 33 (N33) and Regional Road 628 (R628). Economic activity is centered on mining, with the surrounding area containing approximately 100 million tonnes of minerals, including

spodumene Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium inosilicate, Li Al( Si O3)2, and is a commercially important source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish, or lilac kunzite (see below), or alternatively yellow ...

(

lithium Lithium (from , , ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the ...

columbite Columbite, also called niobite, niobite-tantalite and columbate, with a general chemical formula of , is a black mineral group that is an ore of niobium. It has a submetallic luster, a high density, and is a niobate of iron and manganese. Niobite ...

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

and

tantalite The mineral group tantalite manganese.html" ;"title="iron.html" ;"title="iron">Fe, manganese">Mn)Tantalum">Ta2oxygen">O6is the primary source of the chemical element tantalum, a corrosion (heat and acid) resistant metal. It is chemically simil ...

. Mining by Géomines began in 1915. The Manono-Kitolo mine was worked almost continuously until the late 1970s, first by Géomines and later by Congo-Etain and Zairetain. Perhaps 180,000 tonnes of

cassiterite Cassiterite is a tin oxide mineral, SnO2. It is generally opaque, but it is translucent in thin crystals. Its luster and multiple crystal faces produce a desirable gem. Cassiterite was the chief tin ore throughout ancient history and remains ...

ore were extracted in this period. The collapse of the world tin price in the 1980s severely hit the town's economy. However, since 2017 exploration has been underway for lithium minerals and tin at the historical tin mine in the Manono - Kitotolo region, with over $100 million spent by Australian mining company AVZ to assist the development of the mine and broader region. The town is served by Manono Airport. Manono has a

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

which was built by Belgian

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

, and was severely damaged during the war.

Climate

Manono has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Aw'').

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manono, Democratic Republic Of The Congo Populated places in Tanganyika Province