Likasi

Likasi, formerly known as Jadotville or Jadotstad, is a city in Haut-Katanga Province, in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Demographics

Likasi has a population of around 367,000 (2005).[1] During the 1990s the United Nations set up feeding centres and refugee centres in and around Likasi to assist with the refugees fleeing ethnic violence in Shaba,[2] whose arrival had increased the population of the town some 41,000.[3]

History

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).

Economy

Likasi remains a centre for industry, especially mining,[4] and is a transport hub for the surrounding region. There are mines and refineries supplied by nearby deposits of copper and cobalt.[5]

Transport

Likasi is served by a station on the national railway system.

Popular culture

Likasi was shown in the Tamil movie Ayan when the hero Surya Sivakumar goes on a diamond smuggling mission there

Notes

  1. ^ "DWW bought a building for RADEM maternity in Congo" Doctors Worldwide, 28 September 2005, from ReliefWeb, accessed 28 March 2009
  2. ^ ACC/SCN Secretariat with Shoham, Jeremy (8 December 1993) "Current Situation: 11. Shaba Region, Zaire" Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS), No. 2 - Report on the Nutrition Situation of Refugee and Displaced Populations United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination, Sub-committee on Nutrition, Geneva
  3. ^ ACC/SCN Secretariat with Shoham, Jeremy (17 October 1994) "Current Situation: 11. Shaba/Kasai Regions, Zaire" Refugee Nutrition Information System (RNIS), No. 7 - Report on the Nutrition Situation of Refugee and Displaced Populations United Nations Administrative Committee on Coordination, Sub-committee on Nutrition, Geneva
  4. ^ Harding, Andrew (27 March 2009)"Slowdown blights DR Congo economy" BBC News, accessed 27 March 2009
  5. ^ Rorison, Sean (2008) "Likasi" Congo: Democratic Republic and Republic Bradt Travel Guides, Chalfont St. Peter, England, pp. 143-145 ISBN 1-84162-233-8

See also

External links