With our correspondent in Lubumbashi, Denise Maheho

The objective of this roundtable is to bring the communities of Katanga and those who have arrived from the Kasai region to peaceful cohabitation.

For several months now, some elected officials in Katanga have been concerned about the scale of population movements from the Kasai region to Katanga. Associations estimate that nearly 3,000 people arrive daily in the mining cities of Lubumbashi, Kolwezi, Fungurume and even Kasumbalesa. For these elected officials, this internal migration is causing economic, social, cultural and political tensions. The issue of rural exodus will therefore be at the centre of this roundtable.

Nevertheless, Gabriel Ebula, representative of the Greater Kasai community in Lubumbashi, believes that these discussions will not solve the problem. He thinks that politicians risk instrumentalizing the issue with a view to the 2023 elections.

According to him, the president of the Republic should instead work to improve living conditions in the Kasai region, to discourage those leaving.