| Pepa | |
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Pepa
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| District | Tanganyika |
| Territory | Moba |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 24,767 |
Pepa is a community in the northeast of the Tanganyika District of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located 167 kilometres northeast by road from Pweto, to the west of Lake Tanganyika.
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Pepa is in Moba Territory in the northeast of Katanga Province. The village is surrounded by high plateau grasslands. It was the home of the Belgian-owned Societé Elgima Pepa until the 1990s, a huge cattle farm that employed 1,200 local people.[1]
During the Second Congo War (1998-2003) the region became a battle zone between government forces and rebel groups. Most of the people fled to Zambia and almost all the cattle were taken.[1] The area between Pweto, Moba and Moliro has been called the "Triangle of Death".[2] In 2000 the town was held by RCD-Goma forces and the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).[3] In April 2000 an Rwandan airforce Antonov An-8 crashed on take-off from the Pepa airstrip killing the crew of four and about 20 Rwandan soldiers including a Rwanda army major, two captains and two lieutenants. Other reports place the death toll as high as 57.[4]
In October 2000 Pepa was captured in an offensive by DRC government troops and their allies. The RCD-Goma and RPA forces counter-attacked and recaptured Pepa in November 2000.[5] The Rwandans took other places in the area including Pweto and Moba early in December 2000.[3] By the end of the war buildings that had been used by the military were dilapidated and the community was littered with unexploded and abandoned ordnance.[1]
About 4,000 people trickled back to Pepa after the war, where aid workers educated them in avoiding the dangers of mines and other explosives. By 2010 the herd of cattle numbered 270 and was steadily growing.[1]