Sange, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Sange, as a village in the Uvira Territory, was part of the Fuliiru (or Bafuliiru) Chiefdom, which stretched from South Kivu province south of Lake Kivu and north and northwest of Uvira along the Ruzizi Plain.[7]

Frédéric Hautmann, a Belgian ethnologist, explorer and linguist in Itombwe, journeyed through Uvira in the eastern part of the Belgian Congo in 1939 and studied the culture of Bafuliiru and other ethnic groups, including Bambuti, Babembe, Warega (Barega) and Banyarwanda (a term designated indistinctly to the Hutus and Tutsis of Rwanda who migrated to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the nineteenth century).[8]

In his Étude ethnographique de l’Itombwe (district du Kivu, Congo Belge), Hautmann stated:

“Near Mulenghe (Mulenge), two days' walk from Sanghe (Sange), I was able to observe five of these small "tumuli"; while crossing other villages of the Bafulero (Bafuliiru) of the mountain, I met another ten with pots with two holes, intact, broken or in last shards remains of these pots. This custom is practiced to protect the newborn from the evil mountain spirits. It is two months after the birth that we meet at the place where the placenta is buried. Parents, family members and friends celebrate a festival that lasts several days and nights. The tumulus is sprinkled with native beer.”[9]

On 2 July 2010, Sange experienced a tragedy that resulted in 235 fatalities and 198 injuries following a tanker truck explosion.[10][11][12] The tank truck carrying 59,000 liters of gasoline from Tanzania overturned on the side of the narrow and dangerous road crossing the center of Sange, in South Kivu province, 60 miles south of the city of Bukavu.[13] The fire went out of the truck and propagated rapidly. Some died trying to collect leaking fuel; however, most of the deaths were of people indoors watching the FIFA World Cup match.[14][15] Others were engulfed in fire and reduced to ashes trying to flee.[16] The fire also spread to approximately 20 houses, largely constructed of mud and covered with straw or sheet metal, and burned.[17]

On July 31, 2020, an intoxicated FARDC soldier fired multiple shots, killing at least 12 people and injuring nine others in Sange in the Ruzizi Plain in the Uvira Territory.[18]

The average monthly air temperature is between 22.5° and 25 °C; the monthly average daily maximum temperatures increase at the end of the dry season (30.5° to 32.5° in September), while the monthly average daily minimum temperatures are lowest during half of the dry season (14.5 ° to 17 °C in July).

The monthly relative insolation generally oscillates between 35 and 60% from October to April and between 50 and 80% from May to September, July being the sunniest month.

Agriculture constitutes the main economic activity and income-generating source for the region's population.[19] The sale of agricultural products and basic necessities from Uvira, Bukavu, Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia constitutes the commercial circuit of the population in Sange and its environs.[20] In parallel with agriculture, intensive animal husbandry of cattle, pigs, goats, and poultry is well established in the region. Small and large businesses also account for a substantial proportion of the population.  

• Mulenge
• Lemera
• Furiiru people