BEIJING, China
China on Wednesday urged its citizens to leave three provinces in eastern Congo as violence intensifies in the mineral-rich region.
A posting from the Chinese Embassy in Kinshasa
on the WeChat online messaging said a number of Chinese citizens had been
attacked and kidnapped over the past month in the provinces of South Kivu,
North Kivu and Ituri, where several anti-government rebel groups have a
presence.
It said Chinese residing in the three provinces
should provide their personal details by Dec. 10 and make plans to leave for
safer parts of Congo. Those in the districts of Bunia, Djugu, Beni, Rutshuru,
Fizi, Uvira and Mwenga should leave immediately, it said, adding that any who
do not do so “will have to bear the consequences themselves.”
“We ask that all Chinese citizens and
Chinese-invested businesses in Congo please pay close attention to local
conditions, increase their safety awareness and emergency preparedness, and
avoid unnecessary outside travel,” the embassy said.
No details of the incidents were given,
although the embassy last month reported five
Chinese citizens were abducted from a mining operation in South Kivu,
which borders Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania.
It warned a the time that the security
situation in the area was “extremely complex and grim” and that there was
little possibility of sending help in the event of an attack or kidnapping.
No details were given about those kidnapped,
who they worked for or who was suspected of taking them.
Several armed groups including the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, known by its French acronym FDLR, the
Mai-Mai and the M23 regularly vie for control of eastern Congo’s natural
resources.
Despite the danger, Chinese businesses have
moved into Congo and other unstable African states in a quest for cobalt and
other rare minerals and resources. Chinese workers have also been subject to
kidnappings and attacks in Pakistan and other countries with active insurgencies.
Security was a key topic at a meeting Monday in
Dakar, the capital of Senegal, on Monday, between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang
Yi and his Congolese counterpart Christophe Lutundula, according to China’s
Xinhua News Agency.
China’s government and ruling Communist Party
“attach great importance to the safety and security of Chinese enterprises and
Chinese nationals overseas and the Chinese side has been extremely concerned
with the recent serious crimes of kidnappings and killings of its citizens in
the DRC,” Wang said, using the acronym for the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Wang urged Congo to secure the release of those
kidnapped and create a “safe, secure and stable environment for bilateral
cooperation.”
Xinhua quoted Lutundula as saying Congo would
take “forceful measures” to investigate the crimes, free the hostages, punish
the culprits severely and safeguard national security and restore stability to
the country’s east.
Earlier this week, Uganda said it
launched joint
air and artillery strikes with Congolese forces against camps of the
extremist Allied Democratic Forces rebel group in eastern Congo.
The ADF was established in the early 1990s in
Uganda and later driven out by the Ugandan military into eastern Congo, where
many rebel groups are able to operate because the central government has
limited control there.
At least four civilians were killed less than
two weeks ago in Uganda’s capital when suicide bombers detonated their
explosives at two locations.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility,
saying the attacks were carried out by Ugandans. Ugandan authorities blamed the
ADF, which has been allied with the Islamic State group since 2019. - AP
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