Revised version August 2007.

‘Mapping interests in conflict areas: Katanga’ reports on the presence of (ex-) combatants in the Congolese province of Katanga. It focuses on two broad categories: the ‘Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo’ (FARDC) and the Mayi-Mayi militias. There is no significant presence of other armed groups in the region. After the surrender of the warlord Gédéon in May 2006, the large majority of the remaining Mayi-Mayi groups have demobilised and disarmed. They have chosen to reintegrate into civilian life but this has proven to be a difficult process.
The FARDC are still represented all over the province although their numbers have been significantly reduced. It is an amalgam of the former government army (‘Forces Armées Congolaises’, FAC) and the different rebel armies that fought during the Congo wars. The positions of the (ex-) combatants in the region are shown on a first set of maps that accompanies the report. Their possible interests are indicated on a second one. The maps and the report focus on four regions where security problems are persisting into 2007.

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The maps 

More information on the maps (sources, cartographic accuracy etc.) can be found in the report under the heading: ‘Presentation of the map collection’. 

Web maps 

Instructions for use

The link below will lead you to a webpage with 15 different maps that can be selected from the drop down menu on the right side of the screen. 

• You can change the level of detail on the maps by zooming in or out. The maps are available at three different scales: 1:7,500,000 (initial view), 1:3,000,000 and 1:1,000,000. To zoom in or out, move the scroll slide (in the bottom left corner) up or down, or just move the mouse wheel up or down. For clarity reasons some map elements are hidden while viewing at a large scale but revealed after zooming in.
• You can easily navigate through the map by dragging it with the mouse pointer. After a double click, the clicked-on position is displayed in the centre of the map.
• The maps feature an advanced geographical search function that locates strings of characters.
• When clicking the ‘Overview’ button a useful overview map appears in an extra window at the top left corner of the screen .
• A legend is provided for each map.
• You can search thematically for data by clicking the ‘Lists’ button. The map will centre on the requested map element and automatically a table will appear with additional information on the map element.
• The same additional information on map elements can be retrieved by clicking on the item directly on the map itself (the arrow of your mouse cursor should change in a hand first).

Please note the following:

• The ‘Advanced search’ and ‘Lists’ functions are not available for all the maps.
• ‘DDR’ map: when clicking on a DDR symbol directly on the map, only one table will appear for that specific place, i.e. a table with information on only one group of combatants, although in most of the cases in one place more than one group went through the DDR process. You can retrieve the complete information on all the demobilised groups in a specific place by choosing the ‘Lists’ function on the screen below.
• ‘Reports’ map: when clicking on a blue ‘info’ symbol on the map, you will be redirected to only one report regarding that specific place, while usually more than one is available. You will find links to all the relevant reports by choosing the ‘Lists’ function on the screen below.
• When clicking on a symbol in a specific map, it may happen that an information table from another map shows up. In that case, click on your browser’s ‘Refresh’ button, go back to the chosen map and try again.

View the web maps

PDF maps 

The links below lead you to two PDF maps at scale 1:3,000,000, one of the North of Katanga, the other comprising the Copperbelt, the Centre and the East. 

These PDF maps present a series of ‘layers’, containing the different features of the web maps mentioned above, except for MONUC, ‘Elections’ and ‘Ethnic’. The maps are truly interactive: the user can switch on (visualise) or off (hide) the different layers, making his own feature combinations. On the other hand, the PDF maps do not have search functions or lists and do not allow click actions on map objects. 

To view the PDF maps with the different layers you need Adobe^© Reader^© version 6.0 or later. You can download the program for free from theAdobe© website.

A complete legend of all the map features is provided as well. 

View the PDF maps: 
North (13,492 kB)
Copperbelt – Centre – East (11,711 kB) 

Legend (PDF, 484 kB)