Mbanza Kongo - The second edition of the International Festival of Kongo Culture (FestiKongo), which was due to take place from 5 to 8 of this month in the northern Zaire Province, has been cancelled, said Wednesday the coordinator of the Committee for Participatory Management of the Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo, Biluka Nsakala Nsenga.
According to what ANGOP had access to, the event was cancelled without any other date being indicated.
This year's event, would mark the 6th anniversary of the registration of the Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which took place on 08 July 2017.
The FestiKongo held annually is one of UNESCO's recommendations at the time of Mbanza Kongo's registration, as a key point for exchange and cultural reaffirmation between the countries comprising the then territory of the Kingdom of Kongo, including its diaspora throughout the rest of the world.
The official informed that the Participatory Management Committee had already booked the airline tickets of the foreign guests, who were invited to address different topics according to the programme of the event.
Without details, Biluka Nsakala Nsenga said that in the coming years, there will be better conditions to hold a festival of the scale of Mbanza Kongo, capital of the former Kingdom of Kongo, whose first edition took place in 2019.
The Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo was registered as World Cultural Heritage by UNESCO on July 8, 2017, during the 41st session of the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Krakow, Poland. DA/PMV/JL/MRA/jmc
