Amnesty calls withdrawal of forces from Congo mines

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) – International human rights watchdog, Amnesty International on Monday asked the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to withdraw its armed forces, from the Tenke Fungurume mines (TFM), to avert bloodshed.

Hundreds of soldiers have been deployed in Lualaba province to the south of the country, to remove an estimated 10,000 artisanal miners from the TFM from Tuesday, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, Sarah Jackson said.

“Given the long history of excessive use of force by the Congolese army and its lack of appropriate training in managing public order, the DRC government must immediately withdraw its armed forces from the mines to avert unlawful killings. These artisanal miners merely try to eke out a living and sending in the army against them, would be completely irresponsible,” she said.

Lualaba mining district hosts one of the largest, highest-grade copper and cobalt mines in the world. They are owned by China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to government records, the district accounts for 20% of all cobalt exports.

There are about 110,000 regular artisanal miners in the region. In the absence of authorized artisanal mining areas, many artisanal miners illegally enter private concessions.