DRC: Strikers go back to Gecamines

Gecamines had started paying unpaid wages to workers and striking miners in Katanga province had begun returning to work, Ahmed Kalej Nkand, the chief executive of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) state mining firm, said yesterday. Workers in Kolwezi, one of three Gecamines production hubs in the south-east of DRC, went on strike last week, saying they had not been paid in three months. “We have started to pay back the workers and they are returning to their posts,” Kalej Nkand said, without saying how many months’ salary had been paid. Union officials were not immediately available for comment. Kalej Nkand said Gecamines had launched a programme to make up for production lost during the strike. – Reuters