Bembe people

The Bembe people (Babembe in the plural) are an ethnic group based in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Katavi Region of Tanzania. They live mainly in the territory of Fizi in South Kivu. The Bembe are also in the province of Tanganyika in the city of Kalemie. In 1991, the Bembe population of the DRC was estimated to number 252,000 and around 1.5 million in 2005. They are representative of many ethnic traditions, including pre-Lega, Boyo-Kunda, Hemba and Bemba. A semi-nomadic people, who often settled in forest environments, the Bembe tended to abandon their small villages as the soil became less fertile. The women cultivated the crops and the men hunted and fished.