Conflict in DRC’s Kinsafu as Army and Artisanal Diggers Dispute Mining Square Management
The situation was tense Thursday July 20th in Kinsafu, a region located nearly 50 kilometers from the city of Kolwezi, in the province of Lualaba, south-east of the DRC.
Artisanal miners have risen up, accusing the army in particular of having stolen from them a portion of the mining concession in Kisangala where they have been working for several months.
The latter barricaded the national number 39 to express their anger. According to local sources, economic activities remained paralyzed until Friday morning in Kinsafu.
“It should be noted that this is the Boss Mining concession which is in Kisangala. The artisanal diggers, for several years, have been confused with the natives and exploit to survive.
They had been given by the provincial authorities a portion of this mining square which is called motopompe, and the rest of the concession is exploited by the Lebanese and their partners.
“The presence of 4 jeeps from the 22nd military region and soldiers taking control of the small portion granted to the craftsmen caused the revolt,” explains Gauthier Kayombo, executive of the local civil society, on Friday.
According to the head of this region, these craftsmen will only be able to stop disturbing order and security if there is intervention by the supervisory authorities to settle this dispute.
“These are the Kisangala diggers who have a portion of land that had been given to them by the provincial authorities. There are soldiers, many moreover, who are on the spot in this quarry and they monopolized the part which was given to the diggers.
This is how these young people revolted and as in their way of doing things, they attacked the national road number 39 to make themselves heard.
They barricaded roads and demanded the resumption of total control of their portion of land”, said for his part, Robert Maoze, chief of the rural district of Kisanfu.
These mining operators have formed a small team of 10 people who are already in Kolwezi to speak with the provincial authorities, and consider solutions on this portion of land that they used to exploit.
