SUKU

also called Basuku, people of southwestern Congo (Kinshasa) and northwestern Angola. They speak a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo group of languages. Suku women cultivate cassava (yuca) as the staple crop, and men hunt. The fundamental social unit is the matrilineage, a corporate group based on descent in the female line. A son, however, lives in a compound near that of his father. Houses are rectangular and covered with thatch. In the traditional political system the Suku king delegated power to regional chiefs, who in turn had authority over local chiefs.