As of 1980, there were about 50,000 people living in the zones of Kailo and Punia, and in the capital town of Kindu of the Maniema region. They identify themselves as the Songola. See the Map 1 for their location. The Songola divide themselves into 6 subgroups running from upstream of the Lualaba River to downstream: BisiMulu, BaEnya, BaKuko, BaOmbo, BaBinja, and BinaIkese. The riverine groups are fishers, whereas people living in the forest engage in slash-and-burn agriculture and small-scale hunting and fishing. Barter markets connect these two different habitats and economies.

The language of the subgroup Ombo (KiOmbo) belongs to the Bantu language group of the Mongo peoples living on the western bank of the Lualaba River and is classifed as C-69. All other subgroups use dialects of the Songola language (D-24). The linguist A. E. Meeussen from Belgium carried out fieldwork in Maniema in 1950-51, and studied the Ombo and the Binja dialect of the Songola in the town of Kailo. He named the whole language as Binja-N (N for nord or north), and he named the Zimba language spoken to the South of Kindu as Binja-S (S for sud or south).

Map1: Location of DRC and Kindu

Map2: Subgroups of the Songola