Kisangani

Infobox City
official_name=Ville de Kisangani
nickname=Boyoma




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map_caption=Location in the Congo
subdivision_type=Province
subdivision_name=Tshopo Province
leader_title=Mayor
leader_name=Ernest Etula Libanje
area_note=
area_magnitude=
area_total=
area_land=
area_water=
population_as_of= 2004
population_metro=
population_total= 682599
population_density=
timezone=DRC2
utc_offset=+2
latitude=
longitude=
website=
footnotes=

Kisangani, formerly Stanleyville or Stanleystad, (population 500,000) is a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa. It is the provincial capital of Tshopo Province. Kisangani is located where the Lualaba River becomes the Congo River north of the Boyoma Falls. Kisangani is known as "Kisangani Boyoma", and the demonym for Kisangani is Boyoman (or Boyomais in French). It is the farthest navigable point upstream from the capital city Kinshasa.

The city is also home to Bangoka International Airport. An isolated portage railway links the town to Ubundu, while National Road No. 2 connects Kisangani to Goma in the far east and Rwanda beyond.

History

Henry Morton Stanley founded Stanley Falls Station in December 1883, on an island in the Congo River near the present town of Kisangani. He left Mr. Binnie, an engineer and a Scotsman, in charge to trade with the natives and to represent the Congo Free State. Soon afterwards, East African slavers from Zanzibar, often erroneously called "Arabs" by European writers of the time, reached Stanley Falls. Relations between Free State Officials and the slavers were strained and after a fight the Station was abandoned in 1887. In 1888, some form of Free State power was re-established by appointing Tippu Tip, one of the greatest Zanzibari slavers, as governor of Stanley Falls district.

In late 1964 Simba rebels seized the city of Stanleyville, during the Congo Crisis, and took over 1600 European hostages. After 111 days of negotiating, Operation Dragon Rouge was launched by the United States, Belgium, and a mercenary force called "L'Ommegang" under the command of Colonel Frederic Vandewalle to free the hostages. The airborne assault phase of the hostage rescue operation was referred to as "Dragon Rouge", and "Mad" Mike Hoare and his mercenary unit also were part of Vandewalle's assault column.

In 1966 and 1967 Kisangani was the site of the Mercenaries' Mutinies.

In 1999, Kisangani was the site of the first open fighting between Ugandan and Rwandan forces of the Second Congo War. This followed the fracturing of the anti-government rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) into camps based in Kisangani and Goma. The fighting was also over the gold mines near the town. By the time a peace agreement was signed in 2002, the town was under the control of the Rwandan-backed RCD-Goma.

Transport

In October 2007 a railway was proposed to connect Kisangani to Kasese in western Uganda.

[ [http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/11/7864/east_african_rail_master_plan.html Railway Gazette: East African rail master plan ] ]

References

* Tim Butcher: "Blood River - A Journey To Africa's Broken Heart", 2007. ISBN 0-701-17981-3

External links

*

External links

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CG/9/Kisangani.html Map - elevation = 447m]