Kolwezi, Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Kolwezi is a city in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Likasi in the province of Shaba. It is home to an airport and a railway to Lubumbashi.

Kolwezi is an important mining centre for copper and cobalt. There are also uranium, radium, oxide ores, and lime deposits.

In the colonial period, the 2rep, the elite paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion, were sent in to destroy the local militia, and succeeded despite supposedly tremendous odds.

On May 12, 1978, rebels supported by Angola, occupied the city. The government of Zaire asked the U.S., France and Belgium to restore the order. 700 Africans and 170 Europeans died.

Near Kolwezi there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Inga-Shaba.