‘It helps us survive’: Poverty forces children into mine work in DR Congo

Congolese authorities say 70 children died in a landslide at the Rubaya mine, source of much of the world’s coltan.

Rubaya, Democratic Republic of the Congo – More than a month after a mine collapse in the eastern Congolese city of Rubaya killed hundreds of people, heavy rains once again lashed the area, destabilising the open, steep mine slopes and causing another deadly landslide.

In the aftermath of the March 3 disaster, the Congolese government said 200 people had died at the Kasasa mining site, including 70 children – the majority of them labourers in artisanal mining operations in the resource-rich city.

Fifteen-year-old Mishiki Nshokano* was one of the children who survived that day.

Now recovering at an undisclosed location in the city of Goma, some 60km (37 miles) away, he tries not to think about the trauma he suffered and the friends he lost.

But he says he will soon have to return to the mines, because he has “no other choice”.