“Get your hands off Africa! From the start of his visit to Kinshasa on Tuesday, where he was greeted with fervor, Pope Francis denounced the “economic colonialism” which “is unleashed” in particular in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a vast country plagued by endemic violence.
“Stop suffocating Africa: it is not a mine to be exploited nor a land to be plundered”, launched the pope, in a speech in Italian delivered to the authorities and the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace.
His words were applauded, resonating particularly in the DRC, 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” was the work of multinationals and distant countries, but countries neighboring the DRC are now also accused of plundering local resources, which benefits them economically and fuels conflicts.
The DRC is notably facing the resurgence of the armed group M23, which in recent months has conquered large swathes of territory in North Kivu, a Congolese province bordering Rwanda, accused of interference by Kinshasa.
Speaking before the pope, the Congolese president, Felix Tshisekedi, reiterated these accusations. “In addition to 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.
Eastern DRC has dozens of armed groups, including Islamist rebels who target civilians. The pope’s visit comes two weeks after a bloody attack claimed by the armed group Islamic State committed in 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 kept”.
Transparent elections
He also did not spare the ruling class, calling for it to “promote free, transparent and credible elections” in the face of the threat of corruption. A presidential election is scheduled in the country on December 20.
The Church playing a major role in the society and politics of the DRC, the Congolese expected from the pope a message on this terrain of democracy, in addition to that of conflicts.
As of Tuesday morning, people from Kinshasa had started to gather near the international airport, where the plane of the sovereign pontiff landed at the beginning of the afternoon.
To the sound of chants, drums, a marching band and tam-tams, the crowd swelled over the hours, growing denser and more impatient. “I saw an angel”, declares a young girl, transported with joy after having seen the pope in his “popemobile”.
On the approximately 25 km leading to the city center, the official convoy was greeted by tens of thousands of people massed along 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,” Maggie Kayembe, in her thirties, told AFP in the crowd. The pope “always preaches peace wherever he goes, and peace, we really need it,” adds the young woman.
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 security risks in Goma, in the east of the country, a stage finally canceled .
On Tuesday evening, 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 at which more than a million worshipers are expected.
In recent days, preparations had accelerated in the Congolese capital, where banners and giant panels compete with messages of welcome for the first pope to visit the country since John Paul II in 1985.
During his four-day visit, Francis will also meet victims of violence, members of the clergy and representatives of charities.
In his first speech, the leader of the 1.3 billion Catholics also mentioned the environment, education, social and health problems, themes to which he should return during his next speeches.
This is Francis’ fortieth trip abroad since his election in 2013, and his fifth to the African continent. After Kinshasa, on Friday he will join Juba, capital of South Sudan, the youngest state in the world and among the poorest on the planet.
With the AFP office in Kinshasa