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Congo in Conversation
  • Project
  • Congo (DRC)
  • Finbarr O’Reilly
  • Contributors
    • Arlette Bashizi
    • Bernadette Vivuya
    • Charly Kasereka
    • Dieudonne Dirole
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    • Guylain Balume
    • Justin Makangara
    • Ley Uwera
    • Moses Sawasawa
    • Pamela Tulizo
    • Raissa Karama Rwizibuka
  • Themes
    • Access to clean water
    • Economy
    • Electricity and Hydroelectric Plants
    • Environment
    • Gender-Based Violence and Rape
    • Health
    • Mineral Extraction
    • Obstacles to Progress
    • Politics and Insecurity
  • Carmignac Award
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Congo in Conversation
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-March, 2020. A market in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital. Congolese authorities closed schools and shut down major commercial activities to enforce social distancing. Many people weren't taking precautions and didn't believe the virus was a threat to them during the early days of the pandemic. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac

Kinshasa in confinement

byJustin Makangara
April 29, 2020
in Health
Reading Time: 6min read

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-March, 2020. A market in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital. Congolese authorities closed schools and shut down major commercial activities to enforce social distancing. Many people weren’t taking precautions and didn’t believe the virus was a threat to them during the early days of the pandemic. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac

In early March, as the coronavirus spread across Asia, Europe and the Americas, many African countries were also implementing precautionary measures to protect their populations. I live in Congo’s capital Kinshasa, one of Africa’s largest cities. It is home to more than 12 million people, many of them living in cramped conditions. The central business district of Gombe — Kinshasa’s financial and administrative hub where many foreigners and Congolese elite live and work — is the epicenter of DRC’s coronavirus outbreak.

On March 19, schools were closed, major commercial activities halted, and Gombe was put under lockdown, with access roads blocked off and passes required for entry. Police patrolled Gombe’s streets and people were screened at the entrances to buildings and at the few essential shops that remained operational. Five days later, President Tshisekedi declared a national state of emergency, closed the country’s borders, and isolated Kinshasa from other provinces to stem the spread from the capital to the other regions.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, early April, 2020. A busy street in the financial and administrative district of Gombe in the capital. Even though the area had been put on lockdown on March 19, streets were often still crowded. People continue to make a living; much of the population survives on less than $2 per day. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, early April, 2020. A busy street in the financial and administrative district of Gombe in the capital. Even though the area had been put on lockdown on March 19, streets were often still crowded. People continue to make a living; much of the population survives on less than $2 per day. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 19, 2020. A busy street in the Mont Ngafula district of the capital. Even though much of Kinshasa had been put on lockdown that day, streets were often still crowded. People continue trying to make a living; much of the population survives on less than $2 per day. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, March 19, 2020. A busy street in the Mont Ngafula district of the capital. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-March, 2020. A street scene in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital. Congolese authorities closed schools and shut down major commercial activities to enforce social distancing. Many people weren't taking precautions and didn't believe the virus was a threat to them during the early days of the pandemic. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, mid-March, 2020. A street scene in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital. Congolese authorities closed schools and shut down major commercial activities to enforce social distancing. Many people weren’t taking precautions and didn’t believe the virus was a threat to them during the early days of the pandemic. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, early April, 2020. A billboard promoting health measures aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus in front of Kinshasa's City Hall in the financial and administrative district of Gombe. Gombe — the city’s financial and administrative hub where many foreigners and Congolese elite live and work — is the epicenter of Congo’s Coronavirus outbreak. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, early April, 2020. A billboard promoting health measures aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus in front of Kinshasa’s City Hall in the financial and administrative district of Gombe. Gombe — the city’s financial and administrative hub where many foreigners and Congolese elite live and work — is the epicenter of Congo’s Coronavirus outbreak. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, early April, 2020. A provincial deputy addresses a crowd of people frustrated with a process required to obtain access badges to Gombe, the central commercial district of Kinshasa. Congolese authorities closed schools, shut down major commercial activities, and closed off access to the wealthy Gombe district to enforce social distancing.
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, early April, 2020. A provincial deputy addresses a crowd of people frustrated with a process required to obtain access badges to Gombe, the central commercial district of Kinshasa. Congolese authorities closed schools, shut down major commercial activities, and closed off access to the wealthy Gombe district to enforce social distancing. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-March, 2020. A member of the COVID-19 response team wears protective equipment at the entrance to a building in the Gombe commune of DR Congo's Capital. The responders were at the main entrance of the building to raise awareness among apartment residents about social distancing and to take the temperature of anyone entering or leaving the building, where there are around 75 families and offices. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, mid-March, 2020. A member of the COVID-19 response team wears protective equipment at the entrance to a building in the Gombe commune of DR Congo’s Capital. The responders were at the main entrance of the building to raise awareness among apartment residents about social distancing and to take the temperature of anyone entering or leaving the building, where there are around 75 families and offices. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 19, 2020. Sister Élysee, who runs a school in the Mont Ngafula area of Congo's capital, stands in a courtyard on the day Congolese authorities closed schools, shut down major commercial activities, and closed off access to the wealthy Gombe district to enforce social distancing. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, March 19, 2020. Sister Élysee, who runs a school in the Mont Ngafula area of Congo’s capital, stands in a courtyard. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, mid-March, 2020. An empty classroom in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital. Congolese authorities closed schools and shut down major commercial activities to enforce social distancing. Many people weren't taking precautions and didn't believe the virus was a threat to them during the early days of the pandemic. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Kinshasa, mid-March, 2020. An empty classroom in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Gombe, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sunday, April 05, 9:05 pm. Gombe is preparing for its 14-day lockdown. The grocery stores and shops are already closed and this part of the busy city is empty of its regulars. Gombe is the administrative centre of Kinshasa and considered the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting Democratic Republic of Congo. To date, records show that Gombe has more than 70 percent of cases in the national territory. 
© Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac
Gombe, Kinshasa, Sunday, April 05, 9:05 pm. Gombe is preparing for its 14-day lockdown. The grocery stores and shops are already closed and this part of the busy city is empty of its regulars. Gombe is the administrative centre of Kinshasa and considered the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic affecting Democratic Republic of Congo. To date, records show that Gombe has more than 70 percent of cases in the national territory. © Justin Makangara for Fondation Carmignac

While Gombe’s streets fell quiet, scenes in the surrounding neighbourhoods were very different. As I walked through Mont Ngafula, a southern commune of Kinshasa, I found many people who were not yet respecting social distancing measures and other precautions suggested by the World Health Organization. Even now, many people continue business as usual without protection. Many don’t believe the virus is a real threat to them. As of today, April 29, Congo has reported 491 COVID-19 cases and 30 deaths.

Tags: CoronavirusKinshasaLockdown
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Justin Makangara

Justin Makangara

Justin Makangara is an independent photojournalist and blogger based in Kinshasa. His work focuses on underreported stories surrounding social justice, politics, music, and daily life. He is a member of APJD African Photojournalist Database, VII academy scholarship holder.

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  • Schools and universities reopened this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a two-month hiatus due to the second wave of the coronavirus #pandemic, which now appears to be easing. Pupils returning to class flooded the streets of Congo’s main cities, such as #Kinshasa, #Goma, #Bukavu and #Lubumbashi, but widespread insecurity is hampering efforts to resume education in several of Congo’s restive eastern provinces. In some areas, armed groups are forcibly occupying schools and homes, prohibiting school activities, and attacking health centers, according to the UNHCR, the UN @refugees Agency.
 
🔗 Read full report by @mosessawasawa, “Students Return to School as Pandemic Second Wave Eases” online. Link in bio.
 
📸 Goma, DRC, February 2021. A student has her temperature checked at the entrance to Mwanga Institute © @mosessawasawa for @fondationcarmignac.
 
🇫🇷
 
Après une parenthèse de deux mois due à la seconde vague d’une épidémie de coronavirus en voie de régression, écoles et universités ont rouvert leurs portes cette semaine en RDC. Les élèves retournant en classe ont envahi les rues de Kinshasa, de Goma, de Bukavu et de Lubumbashi, mais dans les provinces agitées de l’est, l’insécurité généralisée entrave tous les efforts pour faire repartir le système éducatif. Dans certaines zones, des groupes armés occupent par la force écoles et maisons, interdisent les activités scolaires et prennent d’assaut les centres médicaux, selon le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unis pour les réfugiés (@refugees).
 
📸 Goma, RDC, février 2021. On prend la température d’une étudiante à l’entrée de l’Institut Mangwa, collège catholique. © Moses Sawasawa pour la @fondationcarmignac.
 
 
🔗 Retrouvez l’article de @mosessawasawa, « La pandémie reflue, les écoles rouvrent » sur notre site internet. Lien en bio.
 
#CONGOINCONVERSATION
 
#PrixCarmignacCongo #DRC #RDC #RDCongo #Students #School #Coronavirus #Health #Politics #Insecurity #Photographie #PhotoReport #Reportage #photojournalism
  • 🎤 Next Tuesday, March 2nd, from 3 to 4 p.m (French time), @raissa_rkar, #CongoinConversation photographer, will dialogue with Gosette Lubondo (@gosettelubondo), a Congolese photographer, laureate of the @capprize 2020 and Yvon Langué (@flottements_) independent curator.
 
The discussion “Social Documentary” will be broadcast live, in French, on our Facebook page #PrixCarmignac !
 
📷 TALK TALK TALK x African Photographic Society
A series of talks and discussions around photography in African contexts with the aim of networking different initiatives and photographers from the continent and beyond. An initiative by @aphotographicsociety members, @fot.ea and CAP Association.⠀
 
🇫🇷
 
🎤 Mardi prochain, le 2 mars de 15 à 16h (heure française), @raissa_rkar photographe de #CongoinConversation, dialoguera avec Gosette Lubondo (@gosettelubondo) photographe congolaise, et Yvon Langué (@flottements_) commissaire d
  • The Italian ambassador to Congo, Luca Attanasio, was killed in an apparent kidnapping attempt on Monday. An Italian embassy official and a Congolese World Food Programme driver were also killed in the ambush which took place near Nyiragongo volcano. The region and in particular the Virunga Park has for years been the site of repeated attacks from rebels and militia groups, along with poachers and loggers, leading to the killing of hundreds of rangers and civilians. More than 2,000 civilians were killed in three eastern provinces last year in attacks mainly attributed to armed groups, the @unitednations reported this month. One of the worst massacres in Virunga Park’s recent history occurred last May when 12 rangers were among 17 people killed in an ambush on the same road the ambassador was travelling between Goma and Rutshuru. In January, six park rangers on a foot patrol were killed in another ambush.
 
Full report by @guerchomndebo & Austere Malivika online. Link in bio.
 
🇫🇷
 
L’ambassadeur d’Italie en RDC a été tué lundi, probablement au cours d’une tentative d’enlèvement. Un fonctionnaire de l’ambassade italienne et un chauffeur congolais du Programme alimentaire mondial (WPF) ont aussi péri dans l’embuscade, survenue près du volcan Nyiragongo. Depuis des années, la région et notamment le Parc des Virunga subit les attaques incessantes de rebelles, de milices, de braconniers et de bûcherons qui ont causé la mort de centaines de gardes forestiers et de civils. Selon les Nations unies, plus de 2 000 civils ont été tués dans trois de ces provinces l’an dernier, lors d’attaques attribuées à ces groupes armés. L’un des pires massacres dans l’histoire récente des Virunga s’est produit en mai 2020 : 17 personnes dont 12 gardes forestiers ont péri dans une embuscade sur la même route de Goma à Rutshuru empruntée par l’ambassadeur. En janvier, six gardes patrouillant à pied ont également succombé à une embuscade.
 
Article en intégralité accessible en ligne. Lien en bio.
 
#DRCongo #Congo #NorthKivu #EasternCongo #Photojournalism #Photojournalisme #PrixCarmignac #Journalism #journalisme
  • There has been a steep rise in violence across much of eastern #Congo during the past year, according to Kivu Security Tracker (KST), an initiative by @humanrightswatch and the #CongoResearchGroup that monitors such attacks. A new report published on Monday identified 122 distinct armed groups across four of Congo’s eastern provinces. Congo also has a record high of 5.5 million people displaced across the country. More than 2,000 civilians were killed in three eastern provinces last year in attacks mainly attributed to armed groups, the @unitednations reported this month.
 
📸 Goma, DRC, January 2021. Mourners in the eastern Congolese city of Goma attend the funeral of Eric Kibanja, one of six Virunga Park rangers killed in an ambush © @guerchomndebo for @FondationCarmignac
 
🇫🇷
 
Une flambée de violence affecte la plus grande partie de l’est du Congo, comme en atteste le Baromètre sécuritaire du Kivu (Kivu Security Tracker), un outil d’évaluation mis en place par l’ONG @humanrightswatch et le Groupe d’étude sur le Congo. Le rapport publié ce même lundi identifie pas moins de 122 groupes armés distincts dans les quatre provinces orientales de la RDC. Et il enregistre un record de 5,5 millions de personnes déplacées dans tout le pays. Selon les @unitednations, plus de 2 000 civils ont été tués dans trois de ces provinces l’an dernier, lors d’attaques attribuées à ces groupes armés.
 
📸 Goma, RDC, janvier 2021. Cérémonie des funérailles d’Éric Kibanja, l’un des six gardes forestiers des Virunga tués dans une embuscade © Guerchom Ndebo pour la Fondation Carmignac

#PrixCarmignacCongo

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  • The escalating churn of deadly violence engulfing parts of eastern Congo gained international attention when the Italian ambassador to the country was killed in an ambush on Monday near the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province. Armed attackers killed the ambassador, Luca Attanasio, 43, as his convoy was travelling from Goma to visit a feeding programme at a school 70 kilometers north in Rutshuru, according to a statement by the WFP. An Italian embassy official and a World Food Programme driver were also killed in the ambush which took place near Nyiragongo volcano in Virunga Park where mountain forests are home to dozens of armed groups, some of them linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
 
Full report online. Link in bio.
 
Video © Austere Malivika for @fondationcarmignac
 
🇫🇷
 
Lundi 22 février, le maelstrom de violence qui s’abat sur des pans entiers de l’est de la RDC s’est révélé aux yeux du monde : l’ambassadeur d’Italie a été tué dans une embuscade près de Goma. Selon un rapport du Programme alimentaire mondial (WPF), les assaillants ont abattu le diplomate Luca Attanasio, 43 ans, alors que son convoi quittait le chef-lieu du Nord-Kivu pour aller visiter un programme alimentaire dans une école de Rutshuru, à 70 km au nord. Un représentant de l’ambassade d’Italie et un chauffeur du WPF ont également été tués dans l’attaque qui a eu lieu près du volcan Nyiragongo, dans le parc des Virunga. Ces forêts de montagne abritent des dizaines de groupes armés, dont certains sont associés au genocide rwandais de 1994.

#RDC #DRC #RDCongo #VirungaPark #Virunga #NordKivu #NorthKivu #Rutshuru #journalisme
  • A girl sings a song about Ebola prevention during an education campaign organised by Save the Children at a church in the town of Beni in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019. Congo has made significant progress in reducing child mortality and access to education for children, but a majority of them remain deprived of many of their rights, according to UNICEF, which reports that 10% of children in Congo die before the age of five and 6 million children suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting.

In February 2021, cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea and in the North Kivu province in DRC, where a large outbreak was yet declared over in June 2020. 
 
📸 Beni, DRC, 2019 © Finbarr O
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