"If all clocks in a region have agreed since 1970, give them just one name even if some of the clocks disagreed before 1970, or reside in different countries or in notable or faraway locations. Otherwise these tables would become annoyingly large. For example, do not create a name Indian/Crozet as a near-duplicate or alias of Asia/Dubai merely because they are different countries or territories, or their clocks disagreed before 1970, or the Crozet Islands are notable in their own right, or the Crozet Islands are not adjacent to other locations that use Asia/Dubai."

Dear IANA Time Zone Database Team,

My name is Marcel Shabani, a software developer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). I am writing to kindly request consideration for the inclusion of Bukavu or Goma as distinct representative locations under the Africa/ region in the IANA Time Zone Database.

Currently, many systems default to Africa/Lubumbashi for regions in the eastern DRC. But, cities like Bukavu and Goma are geographically distant from Lubumbashi and represent significantly different parts of the country. Having a more locally relevant TZ identifier (e.g., Africa/Bukavu or Africa/Goma) would greatly improve accuracy for residents, developers, and organizations operating in these regions.

I understand that the TZ Database prioritizes representation rather than exhaustive listings, but adding one of these major cities would help ensure better alignment with real-world usage across eastern DRC.

Thank you for your time, and I appreciate your continued work in maintaining this globally important resource.
I am happy to provide any additional information if needed.

Kind regards,

Marcel Shabani

Marcel Baguma Shabani

Managing Director

Tuunganes
marcel.shabani@tuunganes.com | Contact in Teams
006K, Avenue Pere Georges Defour Bukavu DRCongo

https://tuunganes.com

Book time to discuss | Prendre rendez-vous