Lubumbashi

"Elisabethville" redirects here. For the Belgian ocean liner, see SS Elisabethville.

Ville de Lubumbashi
Seal
Nickname(s): L'shi - Lubum
Location in the Congo
Province	Katanga Province
Government
• Governor	Moise Katumbi
Area
• Total	747 km2 (288 sq mi)
• Land	747 km2 (288 sq mi)
Elevation	1,208 m (3,963 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	1,139,064
• Density	1,525/km2 (3,950/sq mi)
Time zone	DRC2 (UTC+2)

Lubumbashi

Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Lubumbashi (formerly French Élisabethville, or Dutch  Elisabethstad ) is the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, second only to the nation's capital Kinshasa, and the hub of the southeastern part of the country. The copper-mining city serves as the capital of the relatively prosperous Katanga Province, lying near the Zambian border. Population estimates vary widely but average around 1.5 million.

Geography

Lubumbashi lies at around 1,000 meters above sea level. The Kafue River rises along the Zambian border near the city and meanders through parts of Zambia to the Zambezi River.

Climate

Lubumbashi has a humid subtropical climate (Cwa, according to the Köppen climate classification), with warm summers and pleasant, dry winters, with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer.

Lubumbashi
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     253   26 16     257   26 16     202   26 16     60   27 14     4   26 10     1   25 8     0   25 8     0   27 9     4   30 13     37   31 15     163   28 16     257   26 16 Average max. and min. temperatures in °C Precipitation totals in mm Source: World Climate Guide
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     10   79 61     10   79 61     8   79 61     2.4   81 57     0.2   79 50     0   77 46     0   77 46     0   81 48     0.2   86 55     1.5   88 59     6.4   82 61     10   79 61 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches

Government

From 2000-2006, Floribert Kaseba Makunko served as mayor of Lubumbashi; he was later elected to the National Assembly in 2006.

Elisabethville under Belgian rule

The Belgians founded the city of Élisabethville (sometimes Elizabethville, both in French, or Elisabethstad in Dutch) in 1910, named in honour of their queen Elisabeth, wife to king Albert I. The location of the city was chosen by Vice-Governor-General Emile Wangermée because of the proximity to the copper mine of Etoile du Congo and the copper ore smelting oven installed by Union Minière du Haut Katanga on the nearby Lubumbashi river. The Comité Spécial du Katanga (CSK), a semi-private concessionary company set up in 1906, had its headquarters in Elisabethville throughout the colonial era. It enjoyed large privileges, mainly in terms of land and mining concessions, in the Katanga province.

The city prospered with the development of a regional copper mining industry. Huge investments in the 1920s, both in the mining industry and in transport infrastructure (railline Elisabethville-Port Francqui and Elisabethville-Dilolo), turned the Katanga province into one of the world's major copper ore producers. The population of the city grew apace from approx. 30,000 in 1930, to 50,000 in 1943 and 180,000 in 1957. It was the second city of the Belgian Congo, after Léopoldville.

The city was the seat of the apostolic vicariat of Katanga. The first apostolic vicar, the formidable and authoritarian Mgr Jean-Felix de Hemptinne, occupied this post from the 1930s until his death in 1958. He is buried in the city's cathedral St Pierre et Paul.

As was customary in sub-saharan colonies, the city centre of Elisabethville was reserved for the white (European) population. This consisted mainly of Belgians, but there were also important British and Italian communities, as well as Jewish Greeks. Congolese were only allowed to be present in the white city during the day, except for the house servants ("boys") who often lived in precarious dwellings ("boyeries") in the backyards of the European city houses. The black population consisted of labour immigrants from neighbouring regions in the Belgian Congo (Northern Katanga, Maniema, Kasaï), from Belgian Rwanda and Burundi and from British Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). The black population lived initially in a so-called cité indigène, called quartier Albert (now: Kamalondo), south of the city centre and separated from the white city by a 700 metres wide neutral zone. With population growth new indigenous quarters were created, that still form the main suburbs of present-day Lubumbashi: Kenia, Katuba, Ruashi.

Lubumbashi: 1920s Palace of Justice - picture 2010

Miners in Élisabethville conducted a strike in December 1941 to protest the increasingly severe forced-labor regime that the Belgians imposed on the population, because of the "war efforts".. A rally in the Union Minière football stadium got out of hand. Police opened fire and numerous protesters were killed. In early 1944 the city was again in the grip of severe tensions and fear of violent protests, following the mutiny of the Force Publique in Luluabourg.

Starting in 1933, the Belgian colonial authorities experimented with a limited form of self-governance by creating the cité indigène of Elisabethville into a so-called "centre extra-coutumier" (a centre not subject to customary law), administered by an indigenous council and presided over by an indigenous chief. However, through constant interference from the Belgian authorities, the experiment soon proved a failure. The first indigenous chief - Albert Kabongo - appointed in 1937, was dismissed in 1943 and not replaced. The system was abandoned in 1957, when Elisabethville was created a fully autonomous city and the first free municipal elections were organised in which the Congolese population participated. The people of Élisabethville gave a vast majority to the Nationalist Alliance de Bakongo, which demanded immediate independence from the Belgians.

Elisabethville functioned as the administrative capital of the Katanga province. It was also an important commercial and industrial centre, and a centre of education and health services. The Benedictine Order and Order of Salesians offered a wide range of educational facilities to Europeans and Congolese alike, including vocational training (Kafubu). The Belgians established the University of Élisabethville in 1954-1955 (now the University of Lubumbashi).

Lubumbashi: cathedral St Pierre et Paul - picture 2010

Lubumbashi from 1960

Élisabethville served as the capital and center of the secessionist independent state of Katanga during the 1960-1963 Congolese civil war. Moise Tshombe proclaimed Katangan independence in July 1960. Congolese leaders arrested him and charged him with treason in April 1961; however, he agreed to dismiss his foreign advisers and military forces in exchange for his release. Tshombe returned to Élisabethville but repudiated these assurances and began to fight anew. United Nations troops opposed Katangan forces and took control of the city in December 1961 under a strong mandate. However, the city suffered much indiscriminate property damage and looting by UN troops. Roger Trinquier, well known for his published works on counter-insurgency warfare, served as a French military advisor to President Tshombe until international pressure, led by Belgium, caused his recall to France.

Mobutu Sese Seko ultimately assumed power and renamed Élisabethville "Lubumbashi" in 1966 and, in 1972 renamed Katanga "Shaba."

In May 1990, the university campus of Lubumbashi was the scene of a brutal killing among students by Mobutu's security forces. In 1991-92 ethnic tensions between the Luba from Katanga and the Luba from Kasaï resident in the city led to violent confrontations and the forced removal from the city of the latter.

Congo entered another genocidal civil war in the late 1990s. The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo rebels captured Lubumbashi in April 1997. Rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila spoke from Lubumbashi to declare himself president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 17 May 1997 after Mobutu Sese Seko fled Kinshasa.

When Laurent-Désiré Kabila decided to appoint a transitional parliament, in 1999, a decision was made to install the Parliament in Lubumbashi, in order to consolidate the fragile unity of the country. The parliament was installed in the building of the National Assembly of secessionist Katanga (the former city theatre), which had its capital in this city as well, in the 1960s. Lubumbashi was therefore the Legislative capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1999 to 2003, when all the country's central institutions were brought back to Kinshasa.

On 7 September 2010 a large prison break happened in Lubumbashi after gunmen attacked a prison on the outskirts of the city. 960 prisoners managed to escape, including the Mai-Mai leader Gédéon Kyungu Mutanga.

Economy

Lubumbashi serves as an important commercial and national industrial center. Manufactures include textiles, food products and beverages, printing, bricks, and copper smelting. The city is home to the Brasimba brewery, producing the famous Tembo beer. The city hosts the headquarters of one of the country's largest banks, Trust Merchant Bank. The area also has a daily newspaper.

The airline Congo Express has its head office in the Bâtiment Banque Congolaise in central Lubumbashi.

Transport

Rail

Lubumbashi lies at the centre of railway lines to Ilebo, Kindu, Sakania and Kolwezi.

In the 1960s, the section from Mutshatsha to Lubumbashi was electrified at 25 kV AC.

Air

Lubumbashi is home to the modern Lubumbashi International Airport. The city consequently serves as a distribution center for such minerals as copper, cobalt, zinc, tin, and coal.

Tourism and culture

Attractions in the city include a botanical garden, a zoo and the regional archaeological and ethnological National Museum of Lubumbashi. Some of the most prominent examples of colonial architecture, such as the art-déco style Palace of Justice, the Grand Hotel or the cathedral St Pierre et Paul, have been restored over recent years. The city also hosts the major University of Lubumbashi, which maintains a library.

Sports

Lubumbashi is home to football club TP Mazembe, founded in 1939. Their home stadium is Stade de la Kenya. Chairman of the club is the current Governor of the province of Katanga Moïse Katumbi. TP Mazembe was the first African club to reach the FIFA Club World Cup finals in 2010, which it lost in Abu Dhabi to Inter Milan on 18 December 2010.

A few US basketball players, such as Myck Kabongo and NBA power forward, Bismack Biyombo, are from Lubumbashi.

Commercial Bank of Congo

Sister city

• Liège, Belgium

References

• "Villes de RD Congo - Lubumbashi" (in French). MONUC. 2006-05-29. http://www.monuc.org/news.aspx?newsID=11213. Retrieved 2008-09-16. 

External links

• Unofficial Katanga site
• Organization for street children in Lubumbashi
• Unofficial English language site
• Lubumbashi's centennial website 2010
• Market gardening in Lubumbashi