President Félix Tshisekedi of DRC has confirmed that the 9th edition of the Francophone Games will be held in the capital Kinshasa.
Details indicate that the President made the announcement on Monday while meeting with envoys from French-speaking countries accredited in Kinshasa.
DRC: Tshisekedi confirms the holding of the 9th Francophone Games in Kinshasa in 2023
According to a communique from the Congolese presidency, by next April everything will be ready for the effective holding of these games.
Kinshasa government says it is in the process of putting all the necessary means so that the infrastructure is ready by end of March 2023.
The Jeux de la Francophonie a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France, is held every four years since 1989.
The DRC, designated in 2019, was supposed to organize the Games in 2021. But the Covid-19 pandemic led to a postponement to 2022, before the Games were postponed again to 2023 last February.
The previous edition, held in Côte d’Ivoire in 2017, brought together nearly 3,500 participants over ten days, including 2,500 young athletes and artists from 53 countries.
The organization of the Games first staged in 1989 and which involves 4,000 athletes from 49 countries, has been hit by delays and problems in paying contractors.
The Congolese Government is said to have ploughed U$30 million into staging the Francophone Games.
