Kasai-oriental Province

Infobox DRCongo Province
country = Democratic Republic of the Congo
native_name = Province du Kasai-oriental
common_name = Kasai-oriental
capital = Mbuji-Mayi
largest_city = Mbuji-Mayi
national_language = Tshiluba
population_density =
population_estimate = 3.8 millions [The head of the United Nations Mission to the Congo (MONUC) in Mbuji Mayi]
governor =

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pop_year =
area = 9.481
area_scale =
districts =
cities =
demonym = Kasaiens
website =




image_logo_size = None

Kasai-oriental is a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Mbuji-Mayi.

History

Kasai Oriental is inhabited by members of the Luba tribe. Friction with Congo's other ethnic groups and encouragement by Belgian corporations hoping to keep their lucrative mining concessions led to South Kasai's secession shortly after Congo's independence in June 1960. After being repulsed, the Congo occupied the province in September 1961. Several thousand people were killed during the "pacification" of South Kasai, which lasted through the spring of 1962.

Mbuji-Mayi , formerly Bakwanga, capital of Kasai-Oriental province, S central Congo (Kinshasa), on the Sankuru River. A commercial center in Luba country, it handles most of the industrial diamonds produced in the Congo. The region in which Mbuji-Mayi is situated annually produces one-tenth in weight of the world's industrial diamonds, with mining managed by the Société Minière de Bakwanga. The group of deposits of Mbuji-Mayi in Kasaï Oriental constitutes the biggest accumulation of diamonds - and at the same time the more "concentrated" with Kimberley - that is known on the surface of the globe. After the Congo attained independence (1960) the city's population grew rapidly with the immigration of Luba people from other parts of the country. From 1960 to 1962 it was the capital of the secessionist Mining State of South Kasai, headed by Albert Kalonji.

Political divisions

The province, ruled until 2009 as the District of Tshilenge will consist of the following 5 territories:

* Kabeya-Kamwanga
* Katanda
* Lupatapata
* Miabi
* Tshilenge

Languages

French is the official language. Tshiluba is one of the four official languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tshiluba is spoken by about 6.3 million people in the Kasai Oriental, Kasai and Lulua provinces.

Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo