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Congolese town to 'disappear' to give way for cobalt mines

Houses in the Gecamine district of the DRC

Houses in the Gecamine district of the DRC on the edge of the abyss of the Chinese mining company COMMUS, downtown Kolwezi. Once a thriving neighbourhood of neat houses and tree-shaded avenues, this district of the city of Kolwezi is now nearly destroyed. PHOTO | JUNIOR KANNAH | AFP

By  AFP

"We are finished," said Alphonse Fwamba Mutombo, standing on a rubble overlooking an open-cast cobalt mine in Kolwezi, south eastern DR Congo.

His had once been a thriving neighbourhood of neat houses and tree-shaded avenues.

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