/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-DR CONGO: Arrest Exposes Plight of Immigrants

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Juakali Kambale

KINSHASA, Feb 25 2003 (IPS) - The arrest of Congolese musician Shungu Wemabdio, popularly known as Papa Wemba, has exposed the plight of young Congolese seeking greener pastures overseas.

Wemba, who is in his late 50s, was arrested in Paris on Feb 19.

The superstar, who has Belgian nationality, is being accused in both France and Belgium of running a racket of smuggling immigrants.

The French police say Wemba took advantage of his status as a musician and for several years illegally helped ”hundreds of young Congolese” to gain entry to both France and Belgium.

He was arrested after an incident at Zaventem Airport in Brussels on Feb 13. Some 30 young women claiming to be dancers in Wemba’s troupe were refused entry due to insufficient financial guarantees.

When they returned to Kinshasa, the DRC capital, they disclosed the details of their travel arrangements. ”Each one of us paid 3,500 U.S. dollars to Papa Wemba’ s group, which arranged the trip,” explained a tearful Alice Mujinga on Congolese state television.

After denying the charges before a French judge, Wemba later acknowledged that some of the accusations were true, and that he had received money in exchange for arranging trips to Europe for some young Congolese. ”But they were for humanitarian reasons,” he argued.

In Kinshasa, Wemba’s fans are in disarray, while some artists, unhappy with the scandal, say the superstar has brought disrepute to their profession. ”No Congolese artist who is proud of his work should have any compassion for Papa Wemba,” says Wendo Kolosoy, 84, the doyen of the Congolese music.

”To demand 3,500 U.S. dollars from a young man or woman who is 18 or 20 years old, and whose parents are out of work, shows unbelievable sadism because to put together such an amount, you have to go out and steal it,” he says.

Some young Congolese, without their parents’ consents, sell off their land to raise money to travel to Europe.

Etienne Mita, a theatre director, believes the arrest of Wemba should serve as a lesson not only for young Congolese dreaming of emigrating, but also for those running a smuggling racket. ”Each time I leave the country, I lose two or three of my actors, or actresses, especially the girls,” he says.

Most young Congolese always dream of leaving the country for a better life abroad. ”France, Belgium and South Africa are the most attractive destinations,” explains Raymonde Binti, a law student at the University of Kinshasa.

Other dream destinations include the United States, Britain and Canada. ”Young people are faced with an uncertain future. If I had that kind of money, I would not hesitate to pay to continue my studies in Europe,” says Binti.

Travelling to Europe is the dream of all Congolese students. Many pass entire days in Internet cafes, seeking out solution to their obsession in front of computer screens. ”The girls examine the Internet classifieds looking for those who might take them in, while the boys look for job opportunities,” says Jean-Paul Isende, the manager of a Kinshasa Internet cafe.

The Congolese government has not commented on the arrest of Wemba, who is regarded as an ”Ambassador for Congolese Music”. Officials at the ministry of culture appear to be carried away by the international media’s focus on Wemba’s Belgian nationality. DRC’s constitution forbids dual nationality.

According to the Congolese constitution, Wemba has renounced his Congolese nationality. In which case, Congo has no involvement in his arrest. But young Congolese in the Matonge neighbourhood in Kinshasa, where the artist grew up, disagree.

On Feb 20, 30 of them, meeting in Kinshasa, urged Christophe Muzungu, the deputy minister for youth, to intercede with French officials to release their idol. ”We have also decided to go and meet the Belgian and French ambassadors to have Papa Wemba released,” one of them said.

At the invitation of high-ranking Belgian officials, Wemba, along with other African musicians, was supposed to take part in peace demonstration organised for the Great Lakes Region in Brussels this week.

The Great Lakes Region comprises the DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania.

The granting of the visas still baffles Congolese. ”How is it possible that the French and Belgian embassies in Kinshasa, who are always so picky and thorough in their job, grant visas to so many ineligible applicants for so long?” wonders one young man in Kinshasa.

DRC is ranked 152nd of the UNDP Human Development index of 174 countries: a fall of 12 places since 1992.

In Kinshasa, some 2.5 million people live on less than one U.S. dollar per day, according to the leading British charity, Oxfam. In some parts of the Eastern DRC, the charity says, people are living on 0.18 U.S. cents per day.