“Get your hands off Africa!” Since the beginning of his visit to Kinshasa on Tuesday, where he was received with fervor, Pope Francis denounced the “economic colonialism” that “is unleashed” especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a vast country plagued by endemic violence. .
“Stop suffocating Africa: it is not a mine to exploit or a land to plunder,” launched the Pope, in a speech in Italian delivered to the authorities and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace.
His words were applauded and resonated particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country with immense wealth and fertile soil, where two-thirds of some 100 million people live on less than $2.15 a day.
“Economic colonialism” is the work of multinationals and distant countries, but now the DRC’s neighboring countries are also accused of plundering the DRC’s resources, which benefits them economically and fuels conflicts. The DRC is facing in particular the resurgence of the M23 armed group, which in recent months has conquered large tracts of territory in North Kivu, a Congolese province bordering Rwanda accused of interference by Kinshasa. Speaking before the Pope, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi reiterated these accusations.
“In addition to the armed groups, foreign powers greedy for the minerals contained in our subsoil are committing, with the direct and cowardly support of our neighbor Rwanda, cruel atrocities,” he declared.
The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has dozens of armed groups, including Islamist rebels that attack civilians. The pope’s visit comes two weeks after a bloody attack claimed by the Islamic State group on a Pentecostal church in North Kivu. In his speech, Francis urged the Congolese not to “slide into tribalism and confrontation” and “encouraged the ongoing peace processes” so that “commitments are honored.”
transparent elections
He also did not forgive the ruling class, calling to “favor free, transparent and credible elections” in the face of the threat of corruption, while a presidential election is scheduled in the country on December 20.
With a preponderant role of the Church in society and in politics in the DRC, the Congolese expected a message from the Pope in this area of democracy, in addition to conflicts. From the morning of this Tuesday, Kinsasans began to congregate in the vicinity of the international airport, where the plane of the sovereign pontiff landed early in the afternoon. To the sound of songs, drums, brass bands and tom-toms, the crowd swelled with the passing of the hours, becoming denser and more impatient.
“I saw an angel”, declares a young woman, transported with joy after seeing the Pope in his “popemobile”.
In the approximately 25 km that lead to the center of the city, the official convoy was received by tens of thousands of people crowded in the main avenues of the megalopolis of some 15 million inhabitants. “I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to see him face to face,” said Maggie Kayembe, in her thirties, from the crowd. The Pope “always preaches peace wherever he goes, and peace, we need it very much,” the young woman added.
giant mass
Initially scheduled for July 2022, this visit had been postponed due to the knee pain of the 86-year-old Pope, who travels in a wheelchair, but also due to security risks in Goma, in the east of the country, a stage that was finally cancelled. This Tuesday night, tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in a prayer vigil at Kinshasa’s N’dolo airport, where they will spend the night, before a giant mass on Wednesday morning in which more are expected. of a million faithful.
Preparations have accelerated in recent days in the Congolese capital, where giant banners and billboards compete with messages welcoming the first pope to visit the country since John Paul II in 1985. During his four-day visit, Francis will also meet with victims of violence, members of the clergy and representatives of charities.
In his first speech, the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics also referred to environmental, educational, social and health issues, topics to which he must return in his future speeches.
This is Francis’ fortieth international trip since his election in 2013, and the fifth to the African continent. After Kinshasa, on Friday it will join Juba, the capital of South Sudan, the youngest state in the world and one of the poorest on the planet.
Source: BFM TV
