Dozens Of 'separatists' Held In DRC's Second City: Army

Lubumbashi, DR Congo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Apr, 2021 ) :Over 70 presumed separatist fighters were arrested overnight in DR Congo's second city Lubumbashi, the capital of the mineral-rich but perennially restive Katanga province, a military spokesman said Friday.

Incursions by the Kata-Katanga, fighting for the region to secede, have increased recently in Lubumbashi. The province has vast reserves of cobalt and copper.

"More than 70 militiamen were arrested in the outlying areas of Lubumbashi", Major Dieudonne Ngoy, an army spokesman, told AFP.

"All of them were naked and were holding a ceremony (to make them immune to bullets) with the aim of attacking the city of Lubumbashi", he said, referring to mystical ceremonies practised by several militia groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Katanga was carved up into four different entities in 2015.

In 2015, the Bakata-Katanga separatist militia hoisted the flag of the former republic of Katanga in Lubumbashi before surrendering to UN peacekeepers in the city.

They have been demobilised but are still waiting their reintegration into civil society. Many complain of being abandoned by the authorities after receiving training at an army base.