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In mid-October, local authorities ordered the destruction of several houses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on land operated by the mining company Kibali Gold Mining since 2009. Local residents protested against the operation in demonstrations that were brutally repressed by security forces, killing several people.
The days-long protest came to a head on October 22 in the province of Haut-Uele, located in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Up to seven people, including a police officer, were killed in clashes between security forces and the demonstrators from the mining community of Durba, according to local media.
Locals had gathered to protest against the local government’s demolition of a number of homes in the villages of Bandayi and Mégé on October 19. These homes were built within “Exclusion Zone B”, part of a mining concession owned by Kibali Gold Mining. While the zone had been established as an area exclusively for mining, the company has not yet started exploitation there.
Videos, which were shared on WhatsApp by activists and later transferred to the FRANCE 24 Observers team, show a bulldozer destroying a home. Other images show locals leaving, some carrying sheets of corrugated metal, others balancing chairs on their head – whatever belongings they could save before the bulldozer arrived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbPUlAHUGfY
‘People didn’t even have the time to gather their belongings’
The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke to Bissia Tchang, the spokesperson for a local organisation called the League for Youth United for the…
Source : france24
