Chinese embassy calls upon citizens to leave three provinces in the DRC

Texas-based geo-political consultancy Stratfor says China’s Embassy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is telling its nationals in the country to leave the provinces of eastern Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu and to report their location to embassy staff before December 10.

The warning was published on November 30, according to Stratfor, citing reports from Radio France Internationale (RFI).

“Chinese officials are responding to a spate of recent attacks impacting Chinese nationals working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s mining industry,” Stratfor wrote on its website on December 1. “Heightened insecurity and the potential evacuation of Chinese citizens will harm mining operations, and these factors may also pressure the ongoing renegotiations between Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Chinese extractives companies.”

According to Stratfor, an attack on November 24 against an artisanal gold mine in Ituri province left four people dead, including two Chinese nationals.

In a separate incident, five Chinese citizens were kidnapped near a mine in South Kivu province on November 20, Stratfor said.

(This article first appeared in The Northern Miner)