Kolwezi or Kolwesi is the capital city of Lualaba Province in the south of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, west of Likasi.

The settlement was created in 1938 to be the headquarters for the western mining group of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.

The 2e REP, an elite paratroopers unit of the French Foreign Legion, were sent in to drive out the rebels and rescue any hostages.

The Belgian army also deployed a force of some 750 Paracommando Regiment paratroopers and moved out just over 1,800 Europeans to other cities in the region.

Upon its establishment in 1937 by the Union Minière du Haut-Katangahe, the company cleared the land of the acacias and miombo trees that once grew atop Kolwezi’s rich mineral deposits.

Rond Point de L'Indépendance is the traditional center of the city with more formally laid out neighborhoods located to the west of the traffic circle.

[10] The nearby Lake Nzilo was created by damming the Lualaba River to provide a source of hydroelectric power and a reservoir of water for the mining activities.

The city of Kolwezi has one of the main railway stations in Congo, from where mineral loads and passengers board every day.