Thousands turn up for Francophone Games launch in DR Congo

Thousands of spectators turned up at the opening of the 9th Francophone Games in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital.

Tens of thousands of spectators attended Friday’s 28 July 2023 opening ceremony of the ninth Francophone Games in DR Congo’s capital Kinshasa, celebrating a rare feel-good event in the impoverished and conflict-torn country.

Gathering athletes and artists from mostly French-speaking countries, the Games are being held for the first time in a central African metropolis of an estimated 15 million people — the world’s largest French-speaking city.

Some 80,000 spectators packed Kinshasa’s Stade des Martyrs stadium to watch a flag parade and hear speeches by dignitaries. Amid the stadium’s raucous atmosphere, Bonheur, a 24-year-old student, said he thought organising the Games in Kinshasa was “a very good idea”.

“It will allow the country to develop”, he told AFP. His fellow student Epaphrodit, 24, agreed: “If we only focus on the problems, we won’t make any progress”. After the parade, a sound and light show demonstrated the diverse wildlife and rich cultural heritage of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with performances by dandies known as “sapeurs”, as well as artists wearing colourful costumes of salvaged plastic.

Fally Ipupa, one of the country’s biggest pop stars, performed the grand finale. But while the ceremony started exactly on time — considered a feat in habitually unpunctual DRC — fears over safety standards and security have dogged the run-up to the Games.

Several delegations have called off their participation or sent smaller teams. The Canadian province of Quebec, for example, has pulled out. Over the past several weeks, government authorities in DRC have repeatedly insisted that the nation is up to the task.

The country was chosen in 2019 as the host of the Games, an event held every four years which combines both sport and culture. They were originally scheduled to take place in 2021 but were postponed because of the Covid pandemic and then delayed again last year because the facilities were not ready.

EXPENDITURE ON GAMES
At the same time as ramping up military spending to respond to the conflict in the east, the Congolese government has had to spend significant sums building new sports facilities in its capital.

The total cost is unclear, but the government has cast its outlay as an investment in the youth of the country, who will be able to use brand-new sporting installations. The Games’ organisers have also flatly rejected accusations that the event will be unsafe.

Some 4,500 police officers and members of the Republican Guard have been deployed in Kinshasa, while a private-security firm has been hired to guard the facilities. The 10-day Games run until August 6 and will feature nine sports competitions and 11 cultural contests.

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