SUMMARY
The Basonge, also known as Songe, Songye or Basongye, were a Bantu-speaking ethnic community in central DR Congo (Zaire). They were primarily associated with Kasaï Central, Sankuru and neighbouring areas of central and south-eastern DR Congo (Zaire), and were historically linked to the wider Central-Luba cultural sphere. Although distinct from neighbouring groups, the Basonge shared linguistic, social and political affinities with other central Congolese communities, including Luba, Lulua, Kuba and Luntu groups. Population estimates varied between 2 700 000 and 3 000 000 people.
Geographically, the Basonge inhabited areas along rivers such as the Lukenye and Lomami and across savannah and forest-savannah transition zones. They were organised through extended kinship units, subgroups and village-based chiefdoms under customary leaders. Most Basonge were small-scale agriculturalists cultivating cassava, maize, millet, groundnuts and other staple crops, often supplemented by fishing, hunting, small-scale animal husbandry and local trade. Basonge communities were also known for craft production, including wood carving, masks, pottery, weaving and metalwork, and Songye ritual and artistic traditions have been widely described in ethnographic and art-historical literature.
Traditional authority among the Basonge was centred on hereditary chiefs and subgroup rulers. Some sources referred to the paramount chief as Yakitenge, while other local chiefly titles included mulopwe. Chiefs exercised moral, ritual and administrative authority at the local level, oversaw land allocation, mediated disputes and presided over communal rituals. Succession generally followed family lines, but could involve consultation among elders, advisers and ritual specialists.
In Dimbelenge territory in Kasaï Central, the Basonge Babembele, also written Basonge Bambembele or Babembele, were involved in recurring land and livelihood disputes with neighbouring communities, especially Bena Nkoma (Bakwa Luntu, Luba), also referred to in some sources as Bena Koma or Bena Kasasa. The conflict centred on access to agricultural fields, forest areas, crop reserves, land boundaries, customary authority and local territorial control.
Customary leadership played an important role in the escalation of the conflict. During recent violence, Basonge Babembele mobilisation was associated with Chief Mukandila, a Songe customary chief. Provincial and national reporting linked the conflict to orders or actions attributed to Mukandila. He had reportedly been suspended, imprisoned and later released after earlier ethnic violence in 2023. After his release in 2024, local civil society and authorities reported that he contributed to renewed tensions by prohibiting members of the neighbouring Bena Nkoma community from accessing agricultural fields and by seeking support from a neighbouring province.
The Basonge were not linked to an organized armed group in the available sources. Rather, the violence appears to have involved community-based mobilization, including youth and local self-defence or attack groups aligned with customary structures. In April 2023, clashes linked to land boundaries and disputed forest areas involved Basonge Babembele/Babembele and neighbouring communities in Dimbelenge, leading to deaths, the burning of houses, looting, destruction of fields and displacement. In April 2024, renewed violence between Basonge Babembele and Bena Nkoma again involved attacks, arson, injuries and deaths before public order was restored by state security forces. The Basonge have been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
