Moba is a town located in the

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 ...

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 ...

. It is the administrative center of

Moba Territory Moba Territory is a Territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, territory in the Tanganyika Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The administrative center is Moba port. The territory has an estimated area of and a population ...

Location

Moba is situated on the western shore of the southern part of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

, south-east of

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a city on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lukuga River, that drains Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River, runs through the city. Kalemie is the capi ...

, to which it is linked by regular boat services. The Rafiki is the largest and most comfortable of the available ferry services. The larger town of Kirungu (Kilungu) is on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

above the lake and 5 km from Moba. A dirt road leads down from Kirungu to a jetty in Moba. Moba lies just south of the Mulobozi river. The

Marungu highlands The Marungu highlands are in the Tanganyika Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the west of the southern half of Lake Tanganyika. Location The highlands are divided by the Mulobozi River, which flow into the lake just north of M ...

, a range of steep rugged hills, rises behind the town, bisected by the Mulobozi. The smaller northern section rises to an elevation of about and the larger southern section to about . The highest mountain in Moba is called Murumbi.

People

In 1984 Moba had a population of 25,463. Its ethnic identity is mostly Tabwa.

History

The city was created in 1893 by

White Fathers The White Fathers (), officially known as the Missionaries of Africa (), and abbreviated MAfr, are a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right (for men). They were founded in 1868 by Charles-Martial Allemand-Lavigerie, who w ...

who established a post at nearby Kirungu which they called Baudoinville/Boudewijnstad after

Prince Baudouin of Belgium Prince Baudouin of Belgium (3 June 1869 – 23 January 1891) was the first child and eldest son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. After Baudouin's death, his younger brother eventua ...

Civil war and aftermath

During 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) the region became a battle zone between government forces and rebel groups. The area between Pweto, Moba and Moliro has been called the "Triangle of Death". In November 2000, DRC government troops with

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990, as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (M ...

fighters, former Rwandan army troops now fighting for the DRC government and other allies launched an offensive. They captured positions held by the

Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

(RCD-Goma), such as Pweto, Pepa, and attacked Moba port. The RCD-Goma and

Rwandan Patriotic Army The Rwandan Defence Force (RDF, , , ) is the military of Rwanda. Prior to 1994, Rwanda's military was officially known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front ( ...

(RPA) forces counter-attacked early in December 2000. The Rwandans re-took Pweto and Moba early in December 2000. On 1 August 2007 a mob of demonstrators assaulted United Nations military observers and damaged offices belonging to the

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

and sister agencies. The United Nations withdrew from the town and ceased repatriation of refugees living in Zambia.

Economy

There are no paved roads in the Moba area nor within several hundred kilometres of the town. Two dirt roads, frequently impassable in the rainy season, are the only access by land from the west and south. Moba had long been without electricity. Since 1996, there is a small

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

built to provide its population with electricity. This dam was sponsored by an Italian NGO, Mondo Gusto, on Ngandwe Fuamba river. Economic activity in Moba is mostly farming, fishing and gold mining.

References

{{reflist , refs= {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ceFIryEHTL4C&pg=PA288 , pages=288–289 , title=Genocide and crisis in Central Africa: conflict roots, mass violence, and regional war , author=Christian P. Scherrer , publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group , year=2002 , isbn=0275972240 Populated places in Tanganyika Province Populated places on Lake Tanganyika