Insurgents attack military sites in DRCongo’s second city

Separatist insurgents attacked two military camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s main mining centre of Lubumbashi on Sunday, civil society sources said.

The city is “still not calm” after the attacks by the Bakata Katanga militia, Fortune Mbayo, an official of a network of civil society groups, told AFP.

An official source said “the situation is still confused”, and residents reported the sounds of gunfire in several districts.

Jeff Mbiya Kadima, a member of a civil society platform that works with the government, told AFP the insurgents had targeted the camps of Kimbembe and Kibati on Sunday morning.

Military and civilian authorities said they would provide more information later Sunday.

Lubumbashi is the capital of the mining rich Katanga region and the country’s second-largest city.

Former president Joseph Kabila, who comes from the region, returned there in December after a tussle for power between his supporters and his successor Felix Tshisekedi.

Incursions by the Bataka Katanga, fighting for the region to secede from DR Congo, occur frequently in Lubumbashi. Two policemen and a soldier were killed in the most recent attack on September 26.