Rwanda denies involvement in deadly DRC camp attack

I want to bring in with me Distell. You’ve been. Distell. You just tell me your story. You’ve been. Well, you’re a former Monaco football player. You have now you’re representing the World Food Programme. Just tell me about your experiences with this part of the world, the east of Congo and these particular refugee camps we’re talking about. Yeah. Gavin, thank you for giving me the the way to to to talk. First of all I want to give my deeply condolence to all the victim of the attack yesterday in Muganga. So unfortunately is the the population innocent people and in the refugee camp I think is horrible and I was over there five months ago in Goma and to tell you the truth to live over there is is very hard. It’s tough for those coming to this for the first time. It’s a complicated conflict to to understand. So can you just first of all just give us a sense of life. You know, you go to the refugee camp. How accessible is it in the East? I mean we’re talking about you have the capital Kinshasa. This is where your family grew up. Distell, you were born here in France. Many analysts say if you grew up in Kinshasa even now you probably you might have a a fairly brief understanding but it feels very disconnected to what’s going on in the east and just give us a sense of life therefore for the displaced what you saw. Yeah, correct. So for me I get the the opportunity to to to go to Congo because I play for national team during 1010 years and yeah when I went in Goma the The thing is over there people live the life you know and we are here overseas we see all the the the things in the news but inside is very tough because this conflict is during since decade and decade and as you as you say is a mineral conflict and unfortunately is the innocent paid all all these things And for for me I just I just I just want to say to to the international community to don’t forget GRC don’t forget Goma because people over there need help and the situation is very urgent to trying to explain the situation it’s it is complicated but we have a we have the president Filius di Cicchedi who was here in France this week talking about President Macron talking about how this needs to be looked at with more and more refugees heading to to Goma. President Macron. There’s a sense that like other world leaders saying Rwanda has implications here has a long time involvement which Kigali continues to to deny. But I want to get a sense of when you’re on the ground. If I were to drive for example you see the vast refugee camps you know how many how easy is it to move around in the east Are you crossing continuous checkpoints out what threat what level of threat are civilians under if they’re trying to travel freely? OK, I understand. No me as an ambassador of WFP we we went to the camp with all the security because in the the camp is a field is a field of the you know they have lot of migratory of flu and people come over there and they just sit and they leave but inside the camp they have in organization we have a chief of camp. So you first of all you have to check the the the chief of camp and to ask him if you want to do something. But The thing is WFP they are very involved over there in term of logistic also they they feed all the the the refugee. So it’s a big organization over there. But to to go over there you need to to to go with organization. You you can’t go by yourself because also is it’s dangerous for you you’ve set up your own territory separately tell me about that what you’re trying to do there. Yeah it’s Banazola. We we launched your name. Yeah. Banazola is my Zola is my is my name and Bana is in Congolese dialect Kikongo mean kids so the kids of love because Zola means love. Yeah. So yeah, it’s fight for child protection in GRC and we use sport to, to give, to, to wear awareness to the to the kids, to to help them to grow, to to give them the tolls and yeah, for for the next erection, for the future they can grow up in a good condition. That’s my, my, my fight. What for you will make this conflict that’s gone on for so long and you talk about the the centre of this, the mineral wealth. M23 rebel groups say it’s not just about mineral wealth. They talk about protecting civilians. They talk about their need for this particular part of the region. But for you being there, what what was your sense of how and if there is a path to peace? As I told you when I went over there, my feeling was strange because people lived life of live life like normal you. You can see people grow up with the conflict. Some whole people also find the the the, the conflict. So I think we we just have to to to give the whole voice high the hazard as a world model to to say stop to this conflict stop because people die people are rapper the girl are rapper over there the woman the the so is is very hard it’s very tough I when I was over there I spoke spoken with a lot of people in the camp and you can see it’s very it’s very sad because at the end of the day they are innocent and they don’t understand what happened because they’re the the the population live on the you know they are agricultural people and they have to to to live their their their field to to go to the city to go ma is not is difficult also to them to to to heat to to they don’t know how to to live in a in a in a in a city. Distell, thank you for talking to us. Distell Zola, you’ve been there a number of times. Former Monaco player, as you say, as DRC, national player as well. Really appreciate you coming on here. Thank you, 24 today.