Kasaï region

The Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is divided administratively into Kasai-Occidental and Kasai-Oriental. It shares its name with the Kasai River.

After the independence of Congo in 1960, it seceded for a while under influence of Belgium and became an independent kingdom. After the assassination of Patrice Lumumba the following year, Kasai came back to Congo.

2017 rebellion

In spring 2017, long-running resentment of central government's remoteness and corruption exploded into a rebellion, triggered by official rejection of a local chief, Kamwina Nsapu, who in August was killed by security forces. In the fighting that followed, nearly 1.4 million people were displaced, among them around 850,000 children, leading to a hunger crisis across the region as subsistence farmers were unable to plant crops.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Surviving Congo's massacres: 'I climbed over bodies to flee', BBC, 14 December 2017

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