INTERNATIONAL CONGOLESE RIGHTS

THE RAFTERS of Edmonton Green Shopping Centre trembled last week as 200 young people of African origin from across London forgot old disputes and pledged to tackle knife crime.

The event, held in Artzone on Friday, was the launch of a new Enfield-based group, the RDC (Republique Démocratique de Congo), which aims to integrate African young people into British life. The group has 50 members and is run by people aged 12 to 31.

Erick Moboti, 31, chairman of the RDC, said eight Congolese children were killed in London in 2007 and 2008.

Henry Bolombi and Louis Boduka, who were stabbed on the streets of Edmonton early last year, were two of them.

Mr Mboti said: “Our parents come over and they don’t know much about the country. We have had the chance to live here and our job is to prepare young people for life here.

“Lots of people who come here come from poor areas and these are the young people falling into crime.”

Punctuated with dances from Congolese teenagers, wearing T-shirts saying ‘RDC: Be Part of the Change’, the event featured a presentation by members of the group, a talk on knife crime by Frederick Yamusange, an Islington based community worker and novelist, and a speech of support by Edmonton MP Andy Love.

Another speaker, Albert Mukendi, chairman of the International Congolese Rights Group, said: “If your parents decided to take you back to the Congo to live there, you would find yourselves totally isolated.

“Your compatriates don’t have the privileges you have in this country, where education is free, but few of you go on to university.

“We have not until this day understood how much we have the chance to change our lives.

“Today you have decided to put down your arms and improve yourselves.”

During Mr Mukendi's speech, a dispute broke out between two youths over a camera which one of them was carrying.

According to Mr Yamusange, one youth did not want his picture taken by the other, who was someone from another area.

Yet in a moving turnaround, the pair and their friends were seen filming each other on a video camera an hour later, joking in Lingala, a Congolese dialect.

Bart Ngoma, founder of the Kongolese Children’s Association, distributed booklets at the event produced after workshops held with about 15 Congolese children in December.

They included reasons for young people to be pushed into gangs, such as poverty, lack of communication between parents and children, and young people and the authorities.

The leaflets suggest solutions such as parenting classes, stronger youth clubs and intervention by community groups to help in situations where marriages break down.

Hector Mawete, 20, an RDC volunteer who lives in Canning Town, said: “We are just trying to make it end, all the violence and stabbings. We want to come together. Let’s make a dream that no one can break.”

Another volunteer, Patrick Kanda, 29, said: “We used to fight with firsts but now they pull out knives. We are just trying to bring some sort of positivity.”