By Linda Bordoni
According to the Interior Minister of Lualaba province in southern DRC, despite a strict prohibition on accessing Kalando mine due to heavy rainfall and the risk of landslides, illegal diggers forced their way into the quarry on Saturday.
At that point, gunfire from soldiers at the site, who were reportedly implementing the prohibition, triggered panic among the diggers who rushed to the bridge. The stampede triggered the collapse of the structure, resulting in the fall of the miners piled on top of each other, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries.
A report by Congo’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Support and Guidance Service said at least 40 people had lost their lives.
Long-standing dispute and foreign interests
The presence of soldiers at the mine had long been at the centre of a dispute between wildcat miners, a cooperative meant to organise operations, and the site’s legal operators.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, smartphones and other products. Political and socio-economic instability and the legacy of colonisation have resulted in fierce competition between foreign companies that control 80% of the production in the central African country, where many are displaced and live below the poverty line.
Accusations of child labour, unsafe conditions, and corruption have long plagued the country’s cobalt mining industry and strife between government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, has escalated the conflict, worsening an already acute humanitarian crisis.
(Source: AP)
