Moba is a town located in 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 ...

Tanganyika Province Tanganyika is one of the 21 new 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 provinc ...

. It is the administrative center of

Moba Territory Moba Territory is a 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 of almost 610,000. Geography and climate The west ...

Location

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

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika () is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest, in all cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. It is the world's longest freshwater lake. ...

, south-east of

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a town on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is next to the outflow of the Lukuga River from Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River. History From 18 ...

, 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 Kirungu is a town located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Tanganyika Province, Tanganyika province. It is inland from Moba port, the administrative center of Moba Territory. Kirungu was formerly called Baudouinville (or Boudewijnstad i ...

(Kilungu) is on a

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), 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. Often one or more sides ha ...

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 ...

, 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 The Lungu people (also known as Rungu or Tabwa) are a Bantu ethnic group living primarily on the southwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika, on the Marungu massif in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in southwestern Tanzania and northeas ...

History

The city was created in 1893 by

White Fathers The White Fathers (french: Pères Blancs), officially the Missionaries of Africa ( la, Missionarii Africae) abbreviated MAfr), are a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right (for Men) Founded in 1868 by then Ar ...

who established a post at nearby

which they called Baudoinville/Boudewijnstad after

Prince Baudouin of Belgium nl, Boudewijn Leopold Filips Marie Karel Antoon Jozef Lodewijk ger, Balduin Leopold Philipp Maria Karl Antonius Joseph Ludwig , image = Prince Baudouin of Belgium (1869-1891).jpg , caption = , birth_date = , birth_place = Brus ...

Civil war and aftermath

During the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War,, group=lower-alpha also known as the Great War of Africa or the Great African War and sometimes referred to as the African World War, began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998, little more than a year a ...

(1998-2003) the region became a battle zone between government forces and rebel groups. The area between

Pweto Pweto is a town in the Haut-Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the administrative center of Pweto Territory. The town was the scene of a decisive battle in December 2000 during the Second Congo War which resulted ...

, Moba and

Moliro Moliro is a community in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo beside Lake Tanganyika on the border with Zambia. It is in Tanganyika province. The Congo Free State Enclave of Moliro was founded in 1902, with its own fort and detachment ...

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 (MRND ...

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 ...

(RCD-Goma), such as

Pepa Performance Evaluation Process Algebra (PEPA) is a stochastic process algebra designed for modelling computer and communication systems introduced by Jane Hillston in the 1990s. The language extends classical process algebras such as Milner's ...

, and attacked Moba port. The RCD-Goma and

Rwandan Patriotic Army french: Forces rwandaises de défense sw, Nguvu ya Ulinzi ya Watu wa Rwanda , image = Rwanda Defense Force emblem.png , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 ...

(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 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

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 generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

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 ...

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