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#Moanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
Is it the poorest oil city in the world? Yes, 95% of the local population and villages like Kinkanzi, Sia Nfula, Kintombe and Kindofula are unemployed, despite the oil exploitation that has been going on in their areas since the late 1960s.
By XR University of Goma.
Moanda city is on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean & is located 10 km from the mouth of the Congo River & less than two km from a marine park with mangrove.
PERENCO, is a Franco-British group which exploits oil through its Congolese subsidiary PERENCO REP since 1969. They have wells on and off shore. Their operational base is close to the naval military base, Banana. This prevents local people from going to complain against the environmental abuses caused by flaring of which they are victims.
Most PERENCO executives are foreigners. The Moandais who find themselves there are used for work of lesser importance. The unemployment rate is still very high in this city and its surroundings. The solution to development in this city is to be found in another type of economy and not in oil.
In Moanda and neighboring villages such as Kinkazi, Sia Nfumu, Kindofula, wells and gas flares are near towns and roads. The winds can therefore easily transport the harmful fumes produced by flaring throughout the city and produce serious effects on health, food and the environment. PERENCO does not want to compensate or relocate this population to avoid such damages. Compared to the period before oil exploitation, agricultural production in the Moanda area has significantly decreased.
Due to global warming, the rising waters of the Atlantic already threaten the coast of the city of Maonda, as well as the mangrove wetland marine park and is already destroying the national road number 1 between Moanda and Banana .
The city of Moanda is a perfect example of the abuses resulting from the exploitation of oil in the DRC. The PERENCO company has bid for two other oil blocks, including Yema 2 and Matamba-Makanzi 2, still in Moanda territory in the central Congo province.
The local population is already forming a resistance to the sale of these two blocks following the negative impacts on the environment and the local economy caused by the oil exploitation of PERENCO.
The people says no to the extension of other oil fields in their communities.
The young people of Moanda became aware and directly formed a local XR group to channel all their efforts and fight against the extension of other oil fields in their areas.
