For ten days, Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), vibrated to the rhythm of the 9th Francophone Games. On Sunday August 6, a huge crowd gathered in the Martyrs’ Stadium district, where a football match followed by a ceremony marked the end of the competition on which the country hopes to capitalize to restore its image.
“Both the Stadium of the Martyrs [with a capacity of 80,000 seats] and the People’s Palace [seat very close to the Parliament] are overflowing with people,” the organizers indicated at the start of the evening, asking the Kinshasa people, for reasons of security, not to attempt to go to this area again.
A fiery public for Gims
From the afternoon, 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 esplanade of the People’s Palace, hoping to find other activities there or a concert by stars of the country such as Ferré Gola, Héritier Watanabe or Moïse Mbiye.
Saturday August 5, Gims, the French rapper of Congolese origin (who canceled his concert in Tunisia a few days before to protest against the expulsion of sub-Saharan migrants to the desert), performed there in front of an inflamed audience. “The Congo is changing, let’s stay positive. Moving forward ! Africa is changing! “, had launched the 37-year-old artist, appointed ambassador of Congolese culture in January 2022.
“In general, everything is going well”, welcomed the director of the national Games committee, Isidore Kwandja, on the evening of August 4, while acknowledging the difficulties “at the beginning”. The lack of water in some accommodations, the queue in the canteen or 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 which first surprised the inhabitants of the megalopolis, accustomed to dilapidated infrastructures, police “harassment” and streets littered with rubbish. Until the last minute, sites were still under construction. Faced with this, some participants, such as Quebec, which invoked safety and health reasons, had decided not to compete or to reduce the size of their delegations.
In the stadiums and gymnasiums rehabilitated or built especially for these Games, many people, often with their families, attended athletics, wrestling, judo, basketball or table tennis events. “I couldn’t imagine that one day my children could go to the Tata Raphaël stadium in any worry,” marveled one user on Twitter.
Over 3,500 attendees
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 take part in competitions. Thirty-seven countries were represented. The challenge has been “taken up”, it is part of the “Congolese miracle”, she said. A miracle because, until their opening, doubt remained about the holding of the Games, which were postponed to 2021 because of the Covid-19, then to 2022, the infrastructures not being ready to host them.
In total, twenty sports and cultural disciplines were on the program. Morocco leads the harvest of medals, with nearly sixty, followed by Romania and Cameroon, with about forty. Several French-speaking records have been broken in athletics.
For Congolese Prime Minister Jean-Michel Samba Lukonde, “it’s a real success”. He is delighted with the “infrastructure bequeathed to Congolese youth”. Head of State Félix Tshisekedi, candidate for re-election in the presidential election of December 20, believes that this important meeting, “without a doubt, will remain engraved in the collective memory of the Congolese and in the annals of the Francophonie. “.
These 9th Francophone Games were also preceded by a controversy over the presence of the Secretary General of the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), Louise Mushikiwabo. The latter is Rwandan and relations between Kinshasa and Kigali are execrable, the DRC accusing Rwanda of supporting the rebellion of the March 23 Movement (M23) 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 of the country and the political climate is very tense as the December presidential election approaches. While it has to deal with large military expenses and finance the elections, the DRC has spent tens of millions of dollars on new infrastructure for these Games.
Often asked about 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 this event “is priceless”.