Likasi
| Likasi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
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| Coordinates | 10 ° 59 ′ S , 26 ° 44 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo | ||
| Skin katanga | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | CD-HK | ||
| Residents | 422,726 (January 1, 2005) | ||
Likasi (until 1966 Jadotville ) is a city in the province of Haut-Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 422,726 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2005).
geography
Likasi is located in the southeast of the country in the Copperbelt . In the region are the Mitumba Mountains and the Kundelungu Mountains .
economy
The city is considered a transport hub. Nearby is Shinkolobwe , home to the officially closed mine from which the United States obtained uranium for the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 . The mine was flooded shortly before independence from Belgium in the Cold War and the accesses were sealed with concrete . After Mobutu Sese Seko's soldiers withdrew in 1997, illegal miners began to dig for copper and high-grade cobalt , which is exported to Zambia through negotiators . Since 2004 the mine has been guarded by Joseph Kabila's presidential guard, who allow the miners to continue their work for a fee.
history
The city of Likasi was named Jadotville or Flemish Jadotstad by the colonial rulers from 1943 after the Belgian engineer Jean Jadot . In 1966 it was renamed “Likasi” as part of the “ Africanization ” initiated by dictator Mobutu .
There have been repeated ethnic tensions between the population groups in the region. During the crisis surrounding the Katanga secession in 1961, a company of Irish UN troops had to surrender to a numerically superior unit of Prime Minister Chombé's Katanga army led by white mercenaries .
coat of arms
Blazon :
- Quartered, in 1 and 4 in black a gold, red-tongued and armored lion, in 2 and 3 in green a red hibiscus flower with branches and leaves in gold; a gold five-pointed star in the crossing.
Motto : Aere laboraque (through copper and work)
Trivia
The film Siege of Jadotville (Ireland / South Africa 2016; German title: Jadotville ) with Jamie Dornan , Mark Strong u. a. describes the deployment of the Irish A company deployed by the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Jadotville (Katanga), which defended itself in a five-day battle against outnumbered French and African mercenaries without the support of the UN and the Irish generals, but ultimately surrendered to enable the soldiers to survive. The film illustrates the political maneuvers and intrigues that were used by all parties involved in the Cold War era to gain an advantage in global competition without taking into account the fate and lives of people.