Bunia, Provincial capital in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bunia is the capital of Ituri Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies at an elevation of 1,275 metres on a plateau about 30 kilometres west of Lake Albert and 25 kilometres east of the Ituri Rainforest. The city is divided into three urban communes and 25 neighbourhoods, with 309 avenues in total. The main road, Boulevard de Libération, runs 7.5 kilometres from south to north, of which about 1.5 kilometres is paved while the rest is dirt.

Bunia was a cité within Irumu territory created by the colonial administration around 1949. During the Simba rebellion it was held by rebels and retaken by a column of mercenaries on 30 November 1964. In 2002–2003 the Ituri conflict brought ethnic attacks on Muzipela and northern quarters and the battle of Bunia; Operation Artemis deployed over 1,800 soldiers from about ten countries in June 2003. It became a city by decree on 13 June 2013 and was separated from Irumu in the 2015 provincial split.

Bunia is shaped by different ethnic groups including the Lendu, Hema, Alur, and Ngiti, each maintaining their own traditions and crafts like carving and weaving. Music, dance, and traditional ceremonies bring communities together, while local food made with cassava, corn, and fish reflects the city's cultural diversity.

Bunia's main axis is the 7.5 km Boulevard de Libération, running south to north, of which only about 1.5 km is asphalted; the rest is packed earth that turns muddy in the rains. Rain falls in two periods, mid-March to June and mid-August to early December, with a dry spell from July to mid-August. Bunia Airport (BUX) matters because the dirt highways to Kisangani, Butembo and Goma are largely impassable.

Bunia lies about 170 km north of the Equator, yet in 2006 the BBC travel documentary Equator filmed there, one of the few places in eastern DRC where the crew's safety could be assured by the large UN peacekeeping force. The city is also projected to be the eighth fastest-growing on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, at 5.63%.