Disaster-Congo security forces start evicting illegal miners from Glencore project

Congolese security forces began evicting illegal miners from a copper and cobalt mine run by Glencore on Thursday, local activists said, a week after a landslide there killed 43 of them.

Emmanuel Umpula, the director of the watchdog group African Resources Watch, said some of the miners, who dig on the Kamoto Copper Company (KCC) concession, then protested outside the governor's office in the city of Kolwezi and were dispersed by security forces.

Another civil society activist in Kolwezi, who asked not to be named, said the Kasulo neighbourhood next to the mine was under siege by the police and army and that the protesters outside the governor's office were demanding a new concession to exploit.