Kinshasa, May 22nd, 2021 (CPA).- The historical and memorial heritage of the slave trade in Central Africa was on the menu of a workshop on Friday during the opening of the first memorial tourism conference in the DRC, organized by the « Eric Impion » Foundation, in the conference room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the town of Gombe. In his opening remarks for this workshop, the Minister of Tourism, Modero Nsimba, let it be known that the theme of this conference is a means of accompanying his ministry within the framework of the Slave Route and the beach which remains an important question for Africa.
He indicated that this question requires that we speak of man, because he is the center and so that he is at the center, specifying that « We must speak of the past, of the present and to project the future by putting the structures capable of covering this sector”.
The organizer of the event, Eric Impion, indicated that this conference aims to popularize the circuits of the slave trade to arouse political, cultural and scientific interest but also to present the strengths and historical potential of the DRC. On this subject, he underlined, studies were made to prevail the Routes of the slaves in Congo, but unfortunately, nothing was done, hence the importance of these meetings whose goal is also to relaunch this debate and involve all Congolese in this issue.
He underlined that at the end of this framework, the participants must be made aware, on the one hand, of the memorial concept and the need for its launch on the Malebo Pool and, on the other hand, of the economic and scientific benefits of memorial tourism.
The slave routes: what results in Central Africa and the DRC? Speaking on « Historical sources in Central Africa, » Prof. Azmat Boukari Yabara, said Africa is all about the Congo, as the center of Africa and the world. « It remains for the Congolese to take initiatives and release the necessary means to deploy this project and optimize the DRC’s immense latency resources, » he said. To this end, Prof. Azmat Boukari invited all Congolese to develop economic tourism.
For his part, Senator Didier Mumengi, who focused his presentation on « The DRC and its exceptional cultural value », affirmed that the DRC keeps and abounds in many cultural values, in particular, writing, culture, etc. He noted that the return of the peoples requires an obligation to accelerate the economic rhythm and the humanitarian reconstruction of the black man, before inviting the Congolese to the awareness which, according to him, is the reconstruction of our memory, such as intelligence, heritage or even the potentials available to us. Several personalities participated in this conference, including the provincial Minister of Tourism of Kongo Central, historians, tourism technicians, as well as other speakers from several countries, including the United States, Canada, Congo Brazzaville, etc. . . .ACP/