The private security companies protecting China's interests abroad.
Illustration by Sam Ward
Night had fallen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province. It was late November, and the air was sticky even after the sun had set.
Breathtaking amounts of gold sit just beneath the surface of South Kivu’s muddy slopes, which rub up against the border with Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. But above ground, violence from warring militias plague the province, with thousands of murders and abductions occuring over the last five years.
That November night was no exception: at a remote gold mine in the village of Mukera, just ten miles from the shores of Lake Tanganyika, five Chinese nationals were kidnapped.
Little is known about the identity of the attackers or the Chinese miners, but the incident came at a tough time for the Chinese companies in the region. A few months earlier, South Kivu authorities had shuttered the operations of several Chinese companies operating there, citing environmental damage and permit issues.
In respon
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