Thousands of illegal diamond miners expelled

At least 10,000 Congolese, mostly illegal miners, have been expelled from Angola since December 2003 under inhumane conditions, a Congolese human rights organization said on Thursday.

"They were forced back by the military and hundreds of others have been arrested and detained in subhuman conditions," Dolly Ibefo, vice-president of the rights body, Voice of the Voiceless (Voix des Sans Voix), said.

Returnees have recounted their experience on reaching the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A priest at the Evangelical Church at Kahemba, Jean Kasongo, said Angolan troops and knife-wielding civilians had subjected many to brutality and death threats. They spoke of having been stripped of their belongings before their expulsion.

"Sometimes they arrive with swollen feet from having walked long distances," Kahemba said.

One of the returnees who crossed the border on Wednesday, Puis Kabanga, said many of the miners did not have the necessary work permits. Moreover, Congolese working in the diamond business said that many of the miners in Angola worked with former Unita officers, who once fought the Angolan army.

"According to the report we have received, these people were illegal miners," Theophile Bemba, the DRC minister of the interior, said.

Voice of the Voiceless said most of these were settled in most of Angola's northern diamond mining provinces such as Lunda Norte, Malenge and Kafunfu. The exact number of the returnees is unknown, Kahemba said, because most went directly to their villages of origin without registering.

Congolese and Angolan authorities have confirmed the expulsion and are holding talks over the issue. However, the Angolan Embassy in Kinshasa has not made any public statement on the affair.

The expulsions occurred as the government in Kinshasa announced its largest earnings from diamond sales. Congo's Centre for the Evaluation of Precious Stones reported the export of 27.1 million carats valued at US $642.74 million, in 2003.

"This is a record," Pierre Kikuni, the director of the Ministry of Mines, told IRIN.