Lualaba: Uneasy calm returns to Kolwezi after two days of tensions

Tensions are gradually easing in Kolwezi after two days of artisanal miners’ protests marked by barricades, fires and clashes with security forces. Civil society sources reported several injured people, though no official toll was available; on Tuesday evening, protesters vandalized and set fire to a police post in Dilungu and freed detainees. Governor Fifi Masuka Saini met youth leaders from Luilu and proposed creating a legal artisanal mining zone, with support to obtain cooperative documents, but gave no timeline. Protesters are demanding the implementation of 33 artisanal mining zones and object to inspections and the closure of mineral processing centers and buying counters.