Basongora
Basongora: The Basongora people, who live in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Western Uganda, are mostly pastoralists. They speak “Rusongora,” an African language derived from Proto-Kordofanian that is related to Runyankole and Rutoro, and they have unique customs.
According to reports, there are 11,000 Basongora in Uganda, however this is undoubtedly an underestimate.
The Basongora people’s traditional way of life is noteworthy for its ability to adapt to both hilly and arid savana and scrublands. Their adaption is the primary reason they are a pastoralist population.
Rukoki. The Nyakatonzi Basongora cattle population was severely reduced by a rinderpest outbreak in 1931, which compelled them to relocate to other parts of Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the Basongora, the colonial government’s immunization program was the cause of the outbreak. Due to the conflict brought on by the Mulele insurrection in the DRC, the largest group of people who fled to the country did not return until 1964.
Cattle ranching, salt production, and iron trading were the main pillars of the Songora old economy.
Most significantly, the Basongora’s former lands have either been reclaimed and turned into national parks or have been invaded by other tribes, most notably the Batoro.
In Western Uganda, Bakonzo
In August 1891 CE, Capt. Fredrick Lugard attempted to claim BuSongora as part of the now-defunct Toro kingdom by invading the region in an attempt to gain control of the IBEACO over the salt mines at Katwe. Musuga and Kamurasi’s brother Kasagama was crowned King of Toro by Lugard. Originally established in 1830, Toro had discontinued operations in 1873. There were just four “ama’saza” counties in the ancient Toro. From the time of its establishment in 1830 until its fall in 1873, BuSongora was not a part of the Toro kingdom. Lugard wanted Toro to include BuSongora. The Basongora were nearly assimilated into Toro Kingdom in this fashion.
The colonial government began cultivating cotton in the Songora region in the 1940s. Coincidentally, Nyakatonzi and adjacent plains in what is now Busongora County in Kasese had the ideal soil and climate for cultivating cotton.
The colonial government gazetted communally held Songora grazing areas as Queen Elizabeth National Park in 1954.
The pastoral Basongora were left with very few lands as a result. Thousands more others crossed the border with their herds into the DRC’s Virunga National Park, while others stayed in the park, albeit illegally.
Other ethnic groups, especially the Bakonjo, were forced to relocate from the highlands to the lowlands due to regional insecurity starting in the late 1950s. Many people had been forced to relocate to areas of the Rift Valley by the Rwenzururu Freedom Movement, which had driven them out of the mountains by 1962. 1982 saw the end of the Rwenzururu war as a result of peace talks.
Conflicts were first between the Basongora and Batoro, and then between the Basongora and Bakonjo, as a result of the rising demand for land. When Basongora began moving back to their ancestral lands in 1962, they discovered that the Toro Development Company (TDC), which disbanded in 1970, had leased a portion of their territory and was working on projects like the Mubuku Irrigation Scheme.
Additionally, Busongora was split between Uganda and the Congo. The parts of Uganda that were in Uganda were further subdivided into a number of districts, all of which were later annexed by the Kingdom of Bukonzo, which was established in the latter half of the 20th century, as well as the kingdoms of Toro and Nkore.
A constitutional monarchy headed by a trimviate consisting of an empress dowager (Omu’Gabe’kati), a female ruler (Omu’Go), and a male ruler (Omu’Kama) was the political structure of the Songora, which was a confederacy of numerous states bound together by a parliament known as Muhabuzi.
Sites of culture
The old Basongora [Bachwezi] Cultural Heritage Sites attest to the community’s prehistoric beginnings and existence prior to the Holocene. Ishango on the shores of Lake Rueru [Lake Edward], the Munsa Earth Works, the Ntusi Earth Works, Bigo-bya-Mugyenyi, Rweisamba Hill, Kogyere Hill, Kinyampoma Hill, Nyakahuma Hill, Muramba Hills [Virunga], Irangara Island, Kikorongo Crate Lake, Ngezi Palace at Kaihura [Kyenjojo-Mwenge], and numerous other locations are among the key sites, which range in age from 25,000 years to as recently as 150 years.
Ancient kraal enclosures, royal tombs, ritual mounds, cow burial sites, and a variety of structures like moats, canals, and forts are among the cultural sites’ notable remnants. These locations offer crucial evidence of the Basongora’s beginnings and their historical influence on African civilization, particularly in the Great Lakes Region.