Armed Gang Kills 1 DR Congo Soldier, Abduct 8 Chinese At Mining Site In South Kivu

One soldier of the Democratic Republic of Congo national army, FARDC, was killed and eight Chinese kidnapped in the night of Saturday to Sunday Nov. 21, 2021 in an armed attack on the Bayond Mining Company in Mukera, South Kivu.

The attackers of the gold mining site are yet to be identified.

“At around 9 p.m., several shots were heard at the site. The army responded and unfortunately, one of them was killed and one other seriously wounded,” said Christophe Bonanee, president of the Mukera civil society.

“Investigations are underway and we have discovered that eight Chinese were abducted by the attackers. The armed group that carried out the attack is yet to be identified. We are very shocked by this behaviour which is becoming the order of the day in our territory.”

Kawaya Aime, the administrator of Fizi territory,  confirmed the news of the attack and kidnapping of the Chinese, adding that two FARDC soldiers were among the people kidnapped.

“I was called in the night by the Commander of the sub sector who told me they were attacked and two soldiers are among the persons kidnapped and some other soldiers were killed,” Aime said.

“We cannot cover our eyes on this dossier and we are fully investigating to see how we can free the hostages and arrest the authors. It is perhaps in the coming hours that we can furnish other details.”

The attack follows the conflict between the local population and the Mining Cooperative for Integral Development popularly known by the French acronym COMIDI, the Bayond Mining partner.

The population accuses Bayond Mining of not respecting the roadmap agreed upon with the local population.

The two companies are accused, among other things, of not having paid the local population for the farms they destroyed and for not having kept the promise of rehabilitating roads in the area.