Likasi
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Likasi is a town in Katanga Province, in the south-east region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (also known as Congo-DRC or Congo-Kinshasa). During the colonial period the town was called Jadotville.
Likasi has a population of around 360,000 (Doctors Worldwide, 2005). During the 1990s the population of the town increased as a result of the arrival of refugees from ethnic violence in Shaba, and the United Nations set up feeding centres and refugee centres around Likasi.
Likasi remains a centre for industry, especially mining, and is a transport hub for the surrounding region. There are mines and refineries supplied by nearby deposits of copper and cobalt.
In 1961, during the United Nations intervention in the Katanga conflict, a company of Irish UN troops deployed to Jadotville was forced to surrender to troops loyal to the Katangese Prime Minister Moise Tshombe (see Siege of Jadotville).
Likasi is also the birthplace of former Congolese head of state, Laurent Kabila.
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