Kamina

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This article is about the city in Congo. For the fictional villain/creature in season two of MTV's Teen Wolf see Teen Wolf (season 2) For the fictional character in the anime series, see List of Gurren Lagann characters. The word also means "rascal" in Hindi-Urdu.
Kamina
Kamina
Location in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Coordinates: 8°44′19″S 24°59′26″E / 8.73861°S 24.99056°E / -8.73861; 24.99056
Country Democratic Republic of the Congo
Province Katanga Province
Elevation 6,873 ft (2,095 m)
Population (2012)
 • Total 156,761
National language Swahili

Kamina is a city in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located at around 8°44′19″S 24°59′26″E / 8.73861°S 24.99056°E / -8.73861; 24.99056Coordinates: 8°44′19″S 24°59′26″E / 8.73861°S 24.99056°E / -8.73861; 24.99056. It is the capital of Haut-Lomami District. It was to be the designated provincial capital of the Haut-Lomani Province that was stipulated in the 2005 constitution, but the provincial reorganisation did not take place.

Transport

Kamina is known for being an important railway node; three lines of the DRC railways run from Kamina toward the north, west, and south-east. It has two airports, one civil (Kamina Airport)[1] and one military (Kamina Base Airport).[2]

Military

The Belgian Armed Forces established a large military base in Kamina after the Second World War. The large base complex consisted of Base 1, an air base used for flying training, and Base 2, a paratroop training facility. From September 1953 to 1960, the Advanced Pilots' School of the Belgian Air Force operated some 60 North American Harvards from the base.[3]

When the Congo gained independence in June 1960, Belgium initially retained control of Kamina, under agreement with the Congolese government, but in October 1960 control of the base was taken over by the United Nations.[4][5] The base was never under Katangese control, although Katangese troops occupied the nearby town of Kaminaville.

In early 1964, the UN handed over Kamina to the Congolese Armed Forces. It is now a 'brassage' centre for the slowly forming Army of the Military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Brassage is the process whereby fighters of the former DRC warring factions are brought together into new combined units.

See also

References

  1. ↑ FZSB-Airport Great Circle Mapper
  2. ↑ FZSA-Airport Great Circle Mapper
  3. ↑ EPA a Kamina
  4. ↑ "Quit Congo Again Belgians Told" Montreal Gazette 1 September 1960
  5. ↑ "500 Troops at Kamina Surrender" Daytona Beach Morning Journal 19 September 1961

Further reading

  • J. Temmerman, 'Le Congo: Reduit National Belge,' in Recueil d'etudes <<Congo 1955-1960>>, Academie royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer (Bruxelles) pp.413-422 (1992)
Provinces are shown between brackets
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