Insecurity no longer spares anyone in the DRC. After North Kivu, South Kivu and Kasai, it is now the Maniema that makes talk about him. The balls crackle again. Where is this new front?
Wamaza and Salamabila are among the sectors or communities that form the territory of Kabambare, in the province of Maniema. They are located at the extreme south of Maniema province, in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. While Nonda-Kasenga are sectors or communities located in the territory of Kasongo which borders Wamaza. Wamaza is more or less 300km from Kindu, capital of the province.
Here are more or less distances:
Kindu- Kasongo ± 200km, Kasongo-Wamaza 75km, Wamaza-Salamabila 60km. So from Kindu to Salamabila one passes through: Kasongo-Kasenga-Nonda, then Wamaza and finally we arrive at Salamabila. And Matete is 20km from Salamabila still in the territory of Kabambare.
Why this new front in Salamabila? It should be noted that Salamabila is very rich in mineral resources with important deposits of raw materials including gold. These golden mountains were sold by the government of Kinshasa to a multinational company Banro which exploits these wealth without respecting their specifications where they promised to engage in the social development of the province and for the good of population. The company has been operating gold for more than five years and has done nothing in the social sector. Needless to say, their workers work in very precarious conditions: wages, hours of work …
The Maimai Malaika group is made up of young people from the field. It was born to claim and demand that Banro complies with the specifications and that the government can leave part of the mountains to the population to continue with artisanal exploitation. The golden mountains of Salamabila were a great source of income for local people and for those of other provinces who were digging gold for the survival and education of their children.
The pupils and students spent their holidays there to prepare for the return to school, as in Congo the schooling of children has been totally dependent on parents for more than 20 years. Having sold this source of income, the population no longer knows which saint to vow, since it can not hope to « help » the government under any circumstances. Every day there are several flights of aircraft from the Banro company that descend to Salamabila and carry gold to Bukavu (in South Kivu), and then to neighboring countries, especially Rwanda. Meanwhile the population languished in indescribable poverty! In Salamabila there is not even a factory for processing or processing this gold !!! …
As for the rebel groups, Malaika de Sheh Assani, Maniema and Yakutumba in South Kivu are two different groups but allegedly having the same objective: to overthrow the illegitimate power of Kinshasa? To see their action on the population, it is necessary to ask some questions about their true mission and who is their true boss. Why are they now waking up to three months from the expiry of the illegitimate power in place? Where do they get the sophisticated weapons and ammunition they use? Who replenishes them in living and in military uniform? Would it be a strategy of Banro to continue looting the region quietly, or that of the power in place to prevent the elections? It remains to be discovered. Where is the proof? It would be important that the Congolese political class help us to answer these questions instead of continuing to take the country hostage for their own positioning. We want justice for our children, the oppressed people of Wamaza, Salamabila and even Kabambare center.
An inhabitant of Wamaza
©Beni-Lubero Online.
