Publications

Omasombo Tshonda, J.,  Ngbakpwa te Mobusa, L.,  Gonzato Bina, D.,  Telo Gengi, F.,  Stroobant, E.,  Krawczyk, J. & Laghmouch, M. 2019. Nord-Ubangi. L'État-Zaïre englué dans l'identité ethnique de Mobutu. Series ‘Monographies des provinces de la RD Congo’, 13. Tervuren : KMMA. 546 p. ISBN: 978-9-4926-6962-9.

Book

Found in the northern limits of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with the Ubangi river forming its natural boundary with the Central African Republic, the province of Nord-Ubangi covers a surface of 56,644 km2. Until the country's independence in 1960, the area was occupied by small villages around Molegbe, the seat of the Catholic diocese. It is a rural region with a population of a little over one million, and where the main activities are farming, fishing, hunting, and small-scale trading. Had it not been for Mobutu’s rise to power, it would have remained a minor hinterland. Once he became Congo’s head of state in 1965, Mobutu launched a local reconstruction that would lead to the creation, in 1977, of the new district of Nord-Ubangi. Territories from the former districts of Ubangi and Mongala, where his ethnic kin had a strong presence, were transferred to the new district.