Namibia has mine in the DRC - minister

Namibia's mines minister Jesaya Nyamu has admitted that the country has commercial interests in a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Afrikaans daily 'Republikein 2000' reported on Thursday. "The minister of mines and energy, Jesaya Nyamu, admitted that the Namibian mine is being structured and run together with Americans and a front company of the Namibia Defence Force," the paper reported. Nyamu was quoted as saying that he had informed the United Nations that Namibia and the DRC were running the mine near Tshikapa in the southern DRC together with an American group according to an economic agreement entered into with the late DRC President Laurent Kabila. The report said that the mine covered an area of 25 square km near Maji-Munene, about 45 km from Tshikapa close to the Angolan border. "Namibia and its partners are not at the mine to plunder; everything is being done within the framework of the legal agreement," Nyamu was quoted as saying. "Work at the mine began a while ago, but has not reached full diamond production yet." Namibia has an estimated 2,000 soldiers stationed alongside troops from Angola and Zimbabwe in the DRC since 1998 to help fight rebels supported by Rwanda and Uganda.