KASUMBALESA FRACAS: CONGO ASSURES ZAMBIA
WE ARE immediately going to deploy more security on the route to Lubumbashi and Kolwezi and there will only be three police check points from Kasumbalesa to Kolwezi, says the Democratic Republic of Congo Katanga Province Governor, Celistin Kapopo.
Mr. Kapopo said DRC had agreed to deploy more security personal along the Kolwezi/ Lubumbashi route to safeguard the lives of international truck drivers on the roads in that country.
He said the drivers should report to the provincial government in Katanga any form of intimidation and from police officers solicition of bribes.
And Copperbelt Minister Bowman Lusambo asked the drivers to start crossing into the DRC as there had been assurance from the Congolese government for better security.
Mr. Lusambo noted that there was some resistance from the drivers to start moving their trucks until repeated assurance from both government representatives given to them.
“We are here to help solve the list of demands you put to both governments and the major problem was security. That issue has been addressed and there will be increased security on the most notorious points on the way to Lubumbashi,” Mr Lusambo assured.
The developmentcomes after drivers from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region on Sunday parked their trucks at the Kasumbalesa border protesting the alleged shooting and injuring of a Zambian driver, Jeff Zulu, 37.
Meanwhile SADC Truck Drivers Association President Stanley Muluka stated that security should be guaranteed by the DRC government at all time sat Machipisha in Lubumbashi and Lualaba in Kolwezi as those were the most dangerous places for the truck drivers where a number of attacks had been recorded.
Mr Muluka noted that other demands by the drivers included putting an end to entering the dry port where the foreign drivers’ in the DRC were vulnerable to attacks by suspected criminals because of heavy traffic and ensure there was only one fee point instead of the multiple payments they were subjected to.
The resolve was announced by DRC Katanga Province Governor Celistin Kapopo after two days of consultative talks with the Zambian government officials in Ndola on Thursday and a follow up meeting at the Kasumbalesa border yesterday.