Ten days before the start of these ninth Francophone Games, scheduled for July 28 to August 6, the government announced that the capital Kinshasa was ready to welcome visitors. Tuesday evening, a point was made during a press conference at the Martyrs stadium in Kinshasa.
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The preparations for these ninth Games of the Francophonie have been peppered with controversy over the country’s ability to organize them, but the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo say they are mobilized to host them.
Security at the games sites will be provided by private security services, the police and one of the army’s elite units, the Republican Guard. The athletes will be accommodated in the renovated homes of the University of Kinshasa. The infrastructure is already ready, according to the authorities who gave a press conference on Tuesday evening at the Martyrs stadium in Kinshasa, where the opening ceremony will be held.
Isidore Kwandja, the national director of ninth Games, takes stock at the microphone of our correspondent, Pascal Mulegwa.
” We have made the necessary arrangements, especially for transport. You have certainly seen a number of buses starting to run here in the city; they are already transporting the few athletes who have arrived.
Transport issues are taken care of both for the athletes and for the various delegations that will arrive, in particular the presidents of international federations, the judges, the referees, the jurors, who will come here because it is normally they who must ensure the game rules.
Catering issues also, we are in the process of putting the system in place. Health and safety issues too: all arrangements have been made. You saw that at the entrance there were not only the Delta agents, but also the GR [Garde républicaine, NDLR] who are there and the police and other services that are involved in providing security.
We have already welcomed about 200 and something [athlètes], there are others arriving tonight, we will reach up to 300 athletes, with their companions, a hundred. The DRC has prepared and is ready to welcome the athletes who will come from the five continents. »
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