Coming from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where armed militias are fighting against the central government, Fally Ipupa has already declared support for the central government against the secessionists in North Kivu.
Gare de Lyon actuellement fermée suite à un incendie sur la voie publique à proximité. pic.twitter.com/gzFp14Jbhi
— Conducteur de train (@Conducteur_RER) February 28, 2020
North Kivu is a province bordering on Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and its capital is Goma. The region is politically unstable and since 1998 has been one of the flashpoints of the military conflicts on the continent.
As of 2019, North Kivu is also the site of an ongoing Ebola epidemic, which has been compounded by continued political instability in the region.
Ipupa regularly finances humanitarian actions there, including the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Denis Mukwege. The Panzi Hospital, run by Mukwege, is also financed by the Swedish Pentecostal movement.
The most prominent and prevalent conflict minerals procured in the Kivu districts are gold and coltan. Due to its high financial value, rival militias are involved in the Kivu conflict. “Gold is now, as of 2013, the most important conflict mineral in eastern Congo, with at least 12 tons worth roughly $500 million smuggled out of the east every year,” AllAfrica reported.
In July 2010, the US Dodd-Frank Act was passed and, shortly afterwards, the DRC government suspended mining in the eastern provinces in what amounted to a de facto embargo on strategic minerals. However, the ban encouraged armed groups.
Many researchers argue that the conflicts are rather about demographics, citizenship and land rights, fuelled by the belief that the DRC government was not able or willing to protect the Tutsi community.
A group of “fighters”, as they call themselves, were opposed the holding of Ipupa’s concert, “and even threatened to beat up the performing artist and his entire orchestra ”, explained the news site Media Congo.
“It has been more than ten years that I have been removed from French concert halls,” the singer told French newspaper Jeune Afrique, in February 2020. Faced with these risks of violence, the Prefecture of Police in Paris decided to ban seven demonstrations at around the AccorHotels Arena, on February 28, the evening of the show.
Nicknamed “El Maravilloso”, the targeted singer is adulated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but he is accused of being too close to the government in power. He has not been able to perform in France for over a decade because of the threat posed by these opponents, explained Le Figaro. In 2017, he had to cancel a concert at La Cigale in the French capital.
As multiple fires were set on the sidelines of the concert of the Congolese star, the Gare de Lyon had to be evacuated on Friday, February 28, around the Gare de Lyon.
Ils empêchent les #pompiers d’éteindre les #incendie #GareDeLyon #casseur @Qofficiel pic.twitter.com/BIF4toqWFK
— joel belafa (@jbelafa) February 28, 2020
Several videos posted on social networks show rubbish bins and scooters burning, resulting in a thick cloud of black smoke over the entire area. Clashes between individuals and firefighters dispatched to the scene also broke out. Some Congolese individuals have also tried to prevent the firemen from doing their job.
Activists from the Congolese diaspora, opposed to the regime of President Félix Tshisekedi, are being held responsible for the violence.
For fear of disturbing public order, the Paris police headquarters had announced the ban on planned demonstrations around the Bercy performance hall, since rallies had been announced ahead of the concert.
“Several calls to demonstrate around the hall with the intention of having a fight with the spectators of the concert,” had been launched, according to the police headquarters. A strong police presence was already observable at the end of the afternoon around the AccorHotels Arena.
On Twitter, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, who was going to take a train at the Gare de Lyon, denounced the events as “a riot” on the part of individuals armed with “iron bars”. He also pointed to “the weakness of the state” which “has become unbearable”. “When we are in power, we will finally uphold France, order and justice,” he promised.
3 comments
A piece of the third world brought right to your doorstep. Ain’t diversity grand?
Stupid, stupid, French. And the whole of W Europe.
If they want to fight over DRC politics, let them take themselves permanently back to DRC.
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