A territory of close to 192,000 square miles, Katanga is almost the size of France and represents more than 20 percent of the national territory. With its vast deposits of copper, cobalt, tin, radium, uranium, and diamonds, Katanga province in the southeast is the richest in the DRC, and one of the most economically dynamic. Katanga borders Angola to the southwest and Zambia to the southeast, with Lake Tanganyika separating it from Tanzania to the east. Lubumbashi, its capital city, was named “Capital of Hope” by Unesco. In addition to its subsoil riches, the province contains the fertile Katanga Plateau where farming and ranching are carried out as well as significant fishing activities.

Today, besides the separatism movements of the past, the province is fully part of the DRC’s future, and even more so as its mining resources are meant to boost the economic relaunch of the country. The copper belt region staged a number of projects in 2005 that make the region second to the DRC’s capital in terms of new projects. Better still, the province together with neighboring Zambia, is booming thanks to the soaring prices of copper on the world market.
Signs of better times are unmissable in the region. Long stretches of trucks filled with minerals line up to cross the border at Kasumbalesa every day. In the city center, the number of new cars is increasing every month; villas are being renovated in the residential area, while infrastructure projects are sprouting up in the outskirts.

Investment, especially in mining as it is the biggest sector, would get the wheels of the economy rolling and raise employment opportunities for the Congolese people.

Katanga has not emerged unscathed from the DRC’s more widespread civil conflicts. During Laurent Kabila’s time as president, local groups were armed to defend themselves from invasive forces. Known as the Mai-Mai, some of these groups are now resisting the national demobilization process, causing outbreaks of fighting particularly in the northeast of the province.

Production of copper and cobalt plummeted from the mid-80s onwards due to decades of mismanagement. Nevertheless, mining activities are ongoing, and foreign companies are acting on the province’s potential. Governor Kisula Ngoy hopes that the World Bank supported restructuring of the country’s major mining outfit, Gecamines, will help reinvigorate the local economy.