It’s been eleven years since the Democratic Republic of the Congo was born after the death of Zaire caused by the Marshal’s flight into exile with his courtesans.
The name of the country has changed, its inhabitants call themselves Congolese and there is a new flag. Strangely there never was any Congolese identity card. I always have a strange feeling when I see people proudly showing the ‘green card’ that I wasn’t lucky to have, since I was under 18 years of age when the Kadogos entered Kinshasa.
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2 Comments
The all issue is like going round and round.
In the 60’s, we were called Congolese.
The name was changed to Zaire and when you refer to History, you will been told that the name Zaire was given by Portugese because the couldn’t pronounce Nzadi wich was the name of the congolese river.
Now, to avoid confusion, do you feel more congolese or Zairian? Maybe we need a referendum to settle it once for all.
Talking of my feelings, I was more confortable been a Zairian than now a Congolese.
As a Congolese, I feel less welcomed in some parts of my country.
I’m not into this name change thing, what Africans, in general and Congolese, in particular, need is a deep change, a bottom up kind of changes not what we see now which are simply superficial we can change names or leave them the way they are, but if our mediocre mentalities stay the same, if our corrupt institutions persist, my friends believe me we will never and I say NEVER experience any kind of changes in Africa. That’s at least, what I think and any honest and well informed African would not disagree with that.