Licensed from Columbia University Press
Kolwezi is a city in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Likasi in the province of Katanga. It is home to an airport and a railway to Lubumbashi. The population is approximately 418,000.
Kolwezi is an important mining centre for copper and cobalt. There are also uranium, radium, oxide ores, and lime deposits.
History
The city was created in 1937 to be the headquarters for the western mining group of the High Katanga Mining Association (UMHK).On May 13 1978, rebels supported by Angola, occupied the city. The government of Zaire asked the U.S., France, Morocco and Belgium to restore order. The 2e REP, an elite paratroopers unit of the French Foreign Legion, were sent in to drive out the rebels and rescue any hostages. The Belgian army also deployed a force of some 750 paratroopers and moved out just over 1,800 Europeans to other cities in the region. 700 Africans, among which 250 rebels, 170 European hostages and 6 paratroopers died.
Near Kolwezi there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Inga-Shaba.
See also
References
External links
- Small site on the city of Kolwezi, with some pictures
- "The French Foreign Legion in Kolwezi"(Broken Promise)
By Roger Rousseau aux Editions Rexy ISBN 2-9526927-1-8
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Wednesday July 16, 2008 at 06:38:48 PDT (GMT -0700)
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