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The IXes Jeux de la Francophonie, originally scheduled in Canada in 2021 and rescheduled in 2022 (August 19 to 28) in the DRC, are postponed to 2023, announced the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF). The OIF invokes ” the state of progress “preparations as well as” the possibilities for a broad participation of young Francophone athletes and artists “to explain this decision.
A new blow for the IXes Jeux de la Francophonie. After having changed host country in 2019 from Canada to DR Congo, then following agreed to postpone from 2021 to 2022 the event due to the Covid-19 pandemic the following year, the International Organization of la Francophonie (OIF) once once more rescheduled its flagship cultural and sporting event.
« In accordance with the recommendations of the Guidance Council of the International Committee of the Jeux de la Francophonie (ICFM) held on January 25, the CPF [Conseil permanent de la Francophonie] voted for the postponement of the IXes Jeux de la Francophonie to be held in Kinshasa for one year in 2023 to a date yet to be specified in view of the international sports agenda, according to a statement dated February 8, 2022. This decision followed an exchange on the status of the organization of the IXes Jeux de la Francophonie and on the possibilities of a broad participation of young Francophone athletes and artists ».
A budget of 48 million euros
The threat of a postponement had been hovering for several months. Suspicions of embezzlement of funds around certain construction sites have come to complicate the Kinshasa 2022 file, already complicated by difficult deadlines to meet and the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the accumulated delays would be significant and would concern both the accommodation of participants and the infrastructure supposed to host events or logistics, says a source at rfi.fr .
To read ► DRC: suspicions of embezzlement around the Games of the Francophonie are controversial
On the Congolese side, we do not deny the problems but we are philosophical. « This is not a bad decision, has thus relativized Isidore Kwandja Ngembo, national director of these IXes Games of the francophonie, at the microphone of Sébastien Nemeth. The wrong decision would have been for the Games to be cancelled. But the fact that we postponed gives us the opportunity to work serenely, do things right and organize grandiose Games. It is true that the DRC had already made considerable efforts. The government has made 26 million euros available to us for the organization. He also paid the contractors [environ 22 millions d’euros, Ndlr] who need to build infrastructure ».
Isidore Kwandja Ngembo also assures that the initial specifications of the Jeux de la Francophonie were drafted before the Covid-19 crisis, which did not help anything. “We are going to have to put in place a plan to welcome athletes and fans in conditions that are safe from a sanitary point of view”.
Postponement to 2023 of the Games of the #Francophony in #DRC According to dir of the national committee: “Not surprised at the postponement. It’s not a bad decision. We were running out of time, we were working in a hurry. The postponement will make it possible to organize on time”
— Sébastien Németh (@SebastienNemeth) February 9, 2022
Games between July 23 and August 15, 2023?
Regarding the accommodation of the 4,000 participants, the CNJ boss points out that the DRC is now leaning towards a village made of prefabricated, near the Tata Raphael stadium rather than the construction of seven large buildings of twelve floors each. This contract has also been cancelled.
As for when these Games will be held in 2023, Isidore Kwandja Ngembo mentions a period from July 23 to August 15 that will have to be refined according to the international sports calendar. Nine sports disciplines and eleven cultural competitions are included in the program of these Games, which should have been held from August 19 to 28, 2022. The Xth edition is scheduled for 2025.
