2023-08-06 23:21:24
A huge crowd gathered on Sunday in the Martyrs stadium district of Kinshasa where a football match followed by a closing ceremony marked the end of the 9th Games of La Francophonie, following ten days of an international event on which the DRC hopes to capitalize to restore its image.
“Both the Martyrs Stadium [d’une capacité de 80 000 places] than the People’s Palace [siège tout proche du Parlement] overflowing with people, ”indicated the organizers at the start of the evening, asking the inhabitants, for security reasons, not to attempt to go to this sector any longer.
From the followingnoon, faced with an overwhelmed security service, the neighborhood was invaded by tens of thousands of people, many of whom were unable to access the stadium for the final match between Cameroon and Burkina Faso (2 -1), headed for the People’s Palace, hoping to find a concert or other activity there.
The Games of La Francophonie, opened on July 28, aroused enormous enthusiasm in Kinshasa, the largest French-speaking city in the world with approximately fifteen million inhabitants.
“In general, everything is going well,” welcomed Friday evening the director of the national Games committee, Isidore Kwandja, while acknowledging the difficulties “at the start”.
The lack of water in some accommodation, the queue in the refectory, complicated transport… Some delegations complained as soon as they arrived.
The logistical problems were managed, if not settled little by little, and did not prevent the holding of the Games in conditions that surprised first and foremost the inhabitants of Kinshasa themselves, accustomed to dilapidated infrastructure, police “harassment” and streets strewn with rubbish.
Often with their families, they came in large numbers to attend athletics, wrestling, judo, basketball or table tennis events in stadiums and gymnasiums rehabilitated or built especially for these Games.
Twenty disciplines, sporting and cultural, were on the program.
Morocco leads the harvest of medals, with nearly sixty, followed by Romania and Cameroon, with regarding forty. Several Francophonie records have been broken in athletics.
According to Zeina Mina, director of the International Committee of the Francophone Games (CIJF), this edition of the Games, created in 1989 and organized in principle every four years, recorded more than 3,500 participants, including 1,810 athletes and artists who took part in the competitions. Thirty-seven countries were represented.
The challenge has been “taken up”, it is part of the “Congolese miracle”, she says.
A miracle, because until their opening, doubt remained regarding the holding of the Games, which should have taken place in 2021 but were postponed twice, first because of COVID-19, then in 2022 because nothing was not ready to welcome them.
“No price”
Until the last minute, sites were still under construction. Faced with this, some participants, such as Quebec, which invoked safety and health reasons, decided not to compete or reduced the size of their delegations.
The Games were also preceded by a controversy over the presence of the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), Louise Mushikiwabo.
This one is Rwandan and the relations between Kinshasa and Kigali are execrable, the DRC reproaching Rwanda for supporting a rebellion which occupies part of its territory. She didn’t come in the end.
The atmosphere in the DRC is weighed down by this conflict in the east and the political climate is very tense with the approach of the presidential election in December.
While it has to deal with large military expenses and finance the elections, the DR Congo has spent tens of millions of dollars on new infrastructure for the Games of La Francophonie.
Often asked regarding their cost, the government prefers to emphasize that it is an investment for youth and development. According to its spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya, “the image transmitted to the world” during these Games “is priceless”.
This “historical event […] will remain etched in our memories,” said Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, candidate for re-election in December, during the closing ceremony.
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