Shangombo

Shangombo is a place with about 2,000 inhabitants directly at the border to Angola in the West Province in Zambia . It is 1018 meters above sea level and is the seat of the administration of the district of the same name with 70,049 inhabitants (2000 census). The provincial capital Mongu is 280 kilometers away.

Shangombo is a very hard to reach area. The nearest hospital is a few hundred kilometers away in Senanga , Sesheke or Mongu. During the Angolan civil war in 2001, UNITA looted and captured many Zambians for months. That almost completely ruined fields and herds. The swamps and floodplains of the Cuando in Angola reach as far as this and, due to their extent and sparsely populated areas, make any pursuit by Zambian troops hopeless. At the same time it was the area in which UNITA had poor quality diamonds mined, which it sold through Zambia. Angolan farmers still sell corn and buy second-hand clothing here today. There are still isolated camps with Angolan refugees here.

Topics in Shamgombo are infrastructure, elementary schools, boreholes and solar panels. There is no asphalt road, no electricity, and no telephone. In the place, actually a military post, there are some government buildings and small shops. The district received 25 million kwacha per month from taxes on sales of fish and livestock in 2004 , but paid no wages for nine months. Agriculture in the district is still recovering from the aftermath of the civil war in Angola. The maize and millet yields in the floodplains do not cover their own needs. This district is extremely prone to drought . As in prehistoric times, people survive famine by eating water lilies . Landmines are still buried in 2005 in the areas of Mulamba-Sijembela, Sioma-Ngweizi National Park and Nangweshi / Mashika, i.e. in the district's pasture belt.

Shamgombe is the only accessible marketplace for the neighboring Angolan province, as the roads to Namibia and Botswana can hardly be passed due to the deep sand.

Shangombo is characterized by Kalahari vegetation .

See also

• For a map with all districts and provinces see: Administrative division of Zambia

Web links

• Photo report from Shangombo
• Diamond market in Shangombo (PDF; English)

Coordinates: 16 ° 19 ′  S , 22 ° 6 ′  E