{{The United Nations has it will send more peacekeeping troops to the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo after a surge in attacks by local militias caused a critical humanitarian crisis.}}<\/p>\n
The UN mission in the country (MONUSCO) “has decided to deploy special forces at Pweto to protect Katanga’s population”, MONUSCO chief Martin Kobler said on Twitter.<\/p>\n
No decision has been made on the exact size of the reinforcement, but a date for the deployment should be announced shortly, MONUSCO’s military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Prosper Basse told reporters.<\/p>\n
Moustapha Soumare, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in DR Congo, called the situation in mineral-rich Katanga “critical”.<\/p>\n
“We must step up our humanitarian response if we want to save the province from a general crisis,” he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Katanga’s impoverished area around Manono, Mitwaba and Pweto, in the north of the province, is widely known as the “triangle of death”. <\/p>\n
The rampant violence is mainly attributed to the Mai Mai rebel group which fights for a better distribution between the north and south of the wealth stemming from the province’s immense natural resources.<\/p>\n
Bakata Katanga rebels, who claim to fight for independence, launched brazen attacks that left dozens of people dead in Lubumbashi in March and November 2013.<\/p>\n
Since September 2013 Mai Mai rebels have also burnt down more than 60 villages in attacks on Manono, Mitwaba and Pweto, a statement issued by the UN’s OCHA humanitarian affairs office said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In Pweto alone about 60,000 people have been accommodated after fleeing their homes because of the violence, according to the UN.<\/p>\n
The figure for all of Katanga is 402,000 displaced people, compared with 51,000 in 2011.<\/p>\n
Katanga, which at almost half a million square kilometres (190,000 square miles) is about the size of Spain, is believed to hold around a third of the world’s cobalt and 10 percent of its copper reserves.<\/p>\n
Its capital Lubumbashi is DR Congo’s second largest city and the province has been plagued by secessionist violence since the country’s independence from Belgium in 1960.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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