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\nOn the 30th we did a screening of The Letter at University of Mazenod which is a Catholic University that belongs to the Congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate brothers. There was also participation\u00a0 of\u00a0 students from\u00a0 University of Kinshasa and this was covered by Data TV and Mishapi TV.<\/span><\/p>\n After the screening we held a strategic meeting with the admiration\u00a0 team of\u00a0 the University, Radio Maria, Data TV and Mishapi\u00a0 TV trying to see\u00a0 how they will address\u00a0 our question during Pope Francis Media press upon his arrival. Unfortunately the invitation to all media to attend that Media Press was canceled by the government on the evening\u00a0 of 30 January\u00a0 the\u00a0 night before Pope\u2019s arrival, among local\u00a0 media only National TV was allowed to approach\u00a0 where the Pope was giving his speech.<\/span><\/p>\n On the same day, evening time, the Virunga documentary was\u00a0 screened at \u201cPalais du Peuple\u201d during the\u00a0 Pope\u2019s Festival and the\u00a0 message was given to\u00a0 all choirs and participants.<\/span><\/p>\n The 31st Jan was the day to welcome Pope Francis. Supported by REBAC which is\u00a0 the Ecclesial Network for Protection of Congo Basin working under CENCO; we worked\u00a0 together strategizing the\u00a0 whole week and\u00a0 choosing which strategic places to\u00a0 take during our actions.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite tough\u00a0 security and politics during\u00a0 that time, we are so happy\u00a0 for\u00a0 the actions that\u00a0 we were able to conduct and we find our satisfaction in\u00a0 the speech of\u00a0 Pope Francis at Nation Palais: Hands off the Democratic\u00a0 Republic of Congo! Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa! It is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered. May Africa be the protagonist of its own destiny\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Pope Francis highlighted mining because it is the one that has wounded the whole DRC before oil and gas exploitation becomes an issue. Deep in the same speech we find also a call to multinationals companies to withdraw their plan to invest in oil and gas in DRC, as he says in Laudato Si \u201c..all is connected \u201d , mining\u00a0 ,\u00a0 oil\u00a0 extraction are all dug from\u00a0 the stomach of our common home, causing\u00a0 same effects on environment, human right,\u00a0 justice\u00a0 and lack of peace in DRC.<\/span><\/p>\n On\u00a0 Friday 3rd Feb\u00a0 We held our last partners meeting between REBAC and LSM at CENCO, and another one at Laudato\u00a0 Si Missionaries\u00a0 Centre with\u00a0 two agendas: domestication of our LSM Chapter and collaboration in actions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It was an\u00a0 opportunity to extend our partnership in the DRC Catholic church, with various Laudato Si groups , with climate\u00a0 Movements and media.<\/span><\/p>\n The way forward will be\u00a0 a stakeholders engagement\u00a0 in Kinshasa, build a\u00a0 common understanding on the issue of auctioning of 27 oil blocks and 3\u00a0 gas blocks and draw common goals that could be achieved through various strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n Much appreciation goes to 350 Africa, LSM\u00a0 global\u00a0 and\u00a0 REBAC, for supporting that series of actions, we also give a bit up to LSM\u00a0 DRC chapter in collaboration with\u00a0 350 Africa volunteers in\u00a0 DRC for their great plans at coordination\u00a0 amidst hot politics and tough\u00a0 environment.<\/span><\/p>\n Steeven Kezamutima<\/b>: Programs Coordinator Francophone Africa<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pope Francis visited DRC from 31 Jan to 3 Feb and his visit meant\u00a0a lot to the people of DRC who\u00a0have been\u00a0claiming for\u00a0peace, stability\u00a0 and climate justice. Laudato Si Mouvement in collaboration with 350 Africa conducted a series of actions in Kinshasa and a twitterstorm in order\u00a0to call\u00a0the attention of Pope Francis on the project of auctioning 27 oil\u00a0blocs and\u00a03 gas blocs by the DRC government.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":133066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-post"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fr.afrikavuka.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/66\/2023\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2023-01-31-at-12.22.03-PM-1.jpeg\")
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