A tragic attack on a convoy transporting gold resulted in the loss of two Chinese nationals and two others in the lawless eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as reported by local authorities on Saturday (September 2).
The ambush, which occurred on Friday (September 1), targeted a four-vehicle convoy belonging to TSM Mining. The convoy was transporting gold from a site near the Kimbi River in the Fizi region of South Kivu province.
The attackers seized parcels of gold and fled into the bush, according to Sammy Badibanga Kalondji, the top local official in Fizi.
The other two casualties in the attack included a Congolese soldier and a driver. Kalondji reported that the three individuals injured in the incident were a Chinese mine employee, two locals, one of whom was a soldier, and a mine worker.
The assailants were identified as locals from the neighboring Maniema region. China is a significant investor in the DRC, where it holds substantial influence in the lucrative mineral mining industry.
The South Kivu region has witnessed numerous attacks by armed groups and militias, as well as tensions and violence between local populations and Chinese mining companies.
Earlier in the same week, a militia attack on worshippers praying in a church in northeastern DRC resulted in the deaths of at least 15 individuals.
Militants from the Co-operative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO), a militia group involved in various brutal ethnic killings, attacked a fishing camp in Gobu, according to Charite Banza, president of civil society in Ituri province.
The attack, which occurred on Sunday, lasted for more than two hours and resulted in the deaths of 15 people. Banza also noted that seven additional people had died in the same area a week prior.
Post Your Comments