Songora

The Songora or Shongora (pl. Basongora, sing. Musongora) also known as "Bacwezi", "Chwezi", Huma or "Bahuma") are a traditionally a pastoralist people of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa located in Western Uganda and Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. They have distinctive customs and speak 'Rusongora' an African language that is originates from Proto-Kordofanian and is similar to Runyankole and Rutoro. The Basongora population has reported as numbering 25,000 in 2015 in Uganda. Some Basongora also live in Eastern Congo.

The colonial and neo-colonial governments in Central Africa instituted programs to encourage the Basongora to abandon their traditional lifestyle, and most of the territory traditionally owned by the Songora community has been appropriated for use as national parks or has been settled and occupied by other communities, notably the Batoro and Bakonzo. Also Songora territory has been partitioned into several districts and is distributed across Uganda and Congo.

The traditional lifestyle of the Basongora is notable for its adaptation to dry savana and scrublands, as well as mountainous terrain.

The Basongora are a mixed Nilotic/Bantu group in East and Central Africa, traditionally residing in the foothills and plains at the floor of the western arm of the Great Rift Valley and the hills around the base of the Rwenzori Mountain Range. The Songora traditional economy was largely based on cattle-rearing, as well as salt-manufacture and trade in iron. The political organization of the Songora was a form confederacy of several states united by a parliament called Muhabuzi, and a constitutional monarchy led by a trimviate that consisted of an empress dowager (Omu'Gabe'kati), a female ruler (Omu'Go), and a male ruler (Omu'Kama). The confederacy emerged from a single Songora state that dates back to the 12th century consisted of several provinces including Kisaka-Makara, Kitagwenda, Bugaya, Bunyaruguru and Kiyanja.

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