DRC: Artists call for peace at Tumaini festival

In eastern DRC, the city of Beni, long scarred by massacres and insecurity, has sent out a very different message. This weekend, it hosted the Tumaini music festival, which means “hope” in Swahili. This cultural event provided young people with a space to promote peace and coexistence.

Gerlas Mukokoma, a festival-goer, said, "here in Beni, in our province, we have been victims of war. Young people are traumatized and the population struggles to have confidence in itself. This must end. "

Here, artists and citizens are turning to art as a response to war. Musicians, slam poets, and dancers take turns on stage. Their messages denounce violence, pay tribute to victims, and call for peace in eastern Congo.

Sarah Kahamwithi, a slam artist, explained, "I am appealing to all those people who know that we are suffering. I am sensitive and I denounce the fact that we are suffering, that something is wrong here, in our home, in the east. "

The theme of this fourth edition of the festival, held from January 17 to 18, was “Youth, Peace, and Security.” The event also served to raise awareness of United Nations Resolution 2250, a text that recognizes the key role of young people in conflict prevention and peacebuilding.

Benjamin Asimon, a coordinatoir of the Tumaini festival, said, "it has been six years since the massacres began. The people were expressing their despair, and we thought it was a great risk, a great danger. The only way to fight it was to unite the entire population as one, so that the enemy could hear that the people were unbeatable. They were united and acted solely in the interest of preserving our land, our soil, and everything that is our heritage. "

Beyond music, Tumaini has been a space for activism. Painters and visual artists have also expressed their hope for a better future. In Beni, a city scarred by violence, art has become a common language. It is an act of peaceful resistance in the face of armed violence.