North Kivu (French: Nord-Kivu) is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Goma. North Kivu borders the provinces of Ituri to the north, Tshopo to the northwest, Maniema to the southwest, and South Kivu to the south. To the east, it borders the countries of Uganda and Rwanda. The province consists of three cities—Goma, Butembo and Beni—and six territories—Beni, Lubero, Masisi, Rutshuru, Nyiragongo and Walikale. It is home to the Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site containing the endangered mountain gorillas. The province is politically unstable and since 1998 has been one of the flashpoints of the military conflicts in the region. North Kivu was the site of an Ebola epidemic, which was compounded by political instability in the region.
