The Hema, or Hima, are an ethnic group with about 160,000 members located in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...

, in particular the Ituri

Ituri

Ituri may refer to:* Ituri Interim Administration, an interim administration in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo* Ituri Province, a proposed province in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo* Ituri Rainforest* Ituri River...

 region and Orientale province, as well as parts of Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

 and Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

. The Hema are pastoralists

Pastoralism

Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...

 and the preferential treatment given to them by Ugandan officials is blamed for igniting the recent Ituri conflict

Ituri Conflict

The Ituri conflict is a conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo . While there have been many phases to the conflict, the most recent armed clashes ran from 1999 to 2003, with a low-level...

.

The northern Hema speak Lendu, the language of the neighbouring Lendu

Lendu

The Lendu, or Balendru, are an ethno-linguistic agriculturalist group residing in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in the area west and northwest of Lake Albert, in particular the Ituri region of Orientale province. Their language is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages...

 people. The southern Hema still speak Hema

Hema language

Hema is a Bantu language and one of three languages spoken by the Hema people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Hema is sometimes called Southern Hema in contrast to the unrelated language Lendu, Northern Hema....

, a Bantu language, and the closely related Hima dialect of Nyankore of western Uganda, which are also related are such languages as Luganda and Lusoga.