The Hema, or Hima, are an ethnic group with about 160,000 members located in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, in particular the Ituri region and Orientale Province, as well as parts of Uganda and Rwanda. The Hema are pastoralists and the preferential treatment given to them by Ugandan officials is blamed for igniting the recent Ituri conflict.
The northern Hema speak Lendu, the language of the neighbouring Lendu people. The southern Hema still speak 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. Most Hema are Christians.
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“For the LORD will not cast away his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.”
—Bible: Hebrew, 1 Samuel 12:22.