Curfew in Congo’s mining hub lifted

The Congolese government has lifted a night-time curfew enforced on Lubumbashi, the capital of mineral-rich Katanga province, after rebels attacked the country’s copper mining hub over the weekend, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

“The curfew was lifted yesterday. The situation in Lubumbashi is calm and the security forces have rounded up the criminals responsible,” Lambert Mende, Congo’s minister of information was quoted as saying.

Saturday’s violent action by hundreds of separatists armed with bows, arrows and machetes has been considered the largest attack in the province of Katanga in more than a decade. At least 35 people died as a result of the incident.

Major miners, such as commodities trader Glencore (LON:GLEN) and Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX), have operations in the copper and cobalt-rich area, which exports about half a million tonnes of copper a year.

Lubumbashi resident by Sam DCruz / Shutterstock.com