Kakwa people
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Sudan Uganda South Sudan DR Congo
|
|
| Languages | |
| Kakwa (Nilo Saharan) | |
| Religion | |
| Islam |
The Kakwa people are a Muslim ethnic group found in north-western Uganda, south-western South Sudan, and north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly to the west of the White Nile river.
The Kakwa people are a small minority but a part of the larger Karo people (East Africa), an intermarried group that also includes the Bari, Pojulu, Mundari, Kuku and Nyangwara. Their language, Kutuk na Kakwa, is an Eastern Nilotic language.
The major cities of the Kakwa people are the Yei and Morobo districts (South Sudan), Koboko district (Uganda), Imgbokolo and Aba, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kakwa people sometimes refer to themselves as "Kakwa Saliya Musala", translated directly as "kakwa three hills" a phrase they commonly use to denote their 'oneness' in spite of being politically dispersed among three countries.
According to the Kakwa oral tradition, they migrated out of East Africa (Nubian region) from the city of Kawa in between the third and fourth cataracts of the Nile. First into South Sudan, and from there southwards into Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kakwa converted to Islam, accepting the Maliki school of Sunni theology in medieval era. They were annexed into Equitoria region claimed by the Egyptian Islamic ruler Khedive Ismail (Isma'il Pasha) by his descendant Tewfik Pasha in 1889. As the British colonial empire expanded into East Africa and Egypt, the region with Kakwa people became a part of the Uganda Protectorate.
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