PREMIERE CONVENTION DE LA DIASPORA DU POOL

May 3, 2008 - Washington DC, USA

They were over 50 members of The Pool Diaspora to participate in their first Convention held on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at Howard University, the first Black University in Washington, DC. They all came from France and various US states (North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, DC).

In her introductory words, after recalling the nonpolitical character of the ACP, Monique Massala-Bemba, Coordinator of Action Congo-Pool described the disastrous situation of the Pool Department which, formerly known as the driving force of the country can now be compared to the last car of a train called Congo. For this purpose, she refreshed the participants’ memories that “throughout The Pool, there are no more men, villages, orchards, forests, cattle, there is no more life. There is nothing left. The Pool as a regional entity no longer exists. For the few survivors who are now scattered all over the country, moral ethics and parental authority which had long been the secular pillars of our Kongo society, are forever compromised. The tortured population for which to live is now like an uphill struggle and the brainwashing experienced by the war victims presently aged 15 to 25, never sent to school, enslaved by their own ignorance and subjected to the crooks who turn them into beggars, have become the lever most easily manipulated. Consequently, we must act fast in order to prevent The Pool which is already hobbling on crutches from descending into hell.

After her introductory word, the audience followed four very enriching presentations made respectively by Minister Dieudonné Antoine Ganga, former Congolese Ambassador to the USA, on the Sociopolitical History of The Pool, Béatrice Goma on Women and Sexual Abuse in The Pool, Minister Boukaka Ouadiabantou on the Social and Healthcare Situation in The Pool, and finally Dr Victor Doulou on Education in The Pool; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

On their side, all the Convention participants unanimously expressed their will to build the Pool Department. They committed themselves to act in the unity of all The Pool natives and suggested that ACP should have a representation in every country where natives of The Pool are settled. They requested that ACP be registered at the Ministry of the Interior, Brazzaville, Congo. They also requested that the organizing committee widely spread the results of the Convention and launch from the United States of America a vast publicity campaign in order to arouse a stronger mobilization of The Pool Diaspora and awaken its consciousness so that the Pool Department may be rescued from the destitute situation it is presently bogged in.

Confronted with such an ambitious challenge, they decided to overstep their fear and made the present call for action.