Beatings, humiliation, repeated rapes : the calvary of the female dancers of Koffi Olomide

Incorporate the troupe of dancers of Koffi Olomide made dream young girls of popular neighborhoods of Kinshasa. And it fell within the privilege to be chosen by the "boss". So what if a fashionable teasing in this megalopolis of over ten million inhabitants wanted a lady dressed in a sexy way to be "dressed as a dancer of Koffi". For the king of Congolese rumba is one of those contemporary African legends which sold millions of albums, adored by his public and courted by the heads of state of the region. His round face and laughing, elegant or extravagant costumes, romantic or vulgar songs and dance moves have made him an icon of the continent.
But beyond his soft voice, his fans have rediscovered a brute violence. Friday, July 22, Koffi Olomide just arrived in Nairobi Airport with his troop when he gives a kick to one of his dancers. "A few seconds of bewilderment", has justified the artist in an apologetic message. But the scene was filmed, irrigated social networks. Arrested by Kenyan authorities, the Congolese star is expelled and sees his concert scheduled in Lusaka canceled. Back in Kinshasa, he is booed on his arrival, was detained July 26 and released on bail four days later. "I had, I understood," he wrote on his Facebook page in stride. Since then, he post selfies, surrounded by his family and Fally Ipupa, another big name of Congolese music, which made his classes in the group of Koffi Olomide, Quartier Latin.
Howeve, it's not his first blunder. The one who was the first African singer to full house at Bercy in 2000 is now banned from entering France.
Antoine Christophe Agbepa Mumba, whose real name, remains covered by an international arrest warrant issued by a French court in 2009 and renewed in 2012. "The investigation is still open, the procedure was not closed and the investigation is continuing", says one to the high court of Nanterre.
The Franco-Congolese star Franco, 60, is prosecuted in France for "rape of a minor fifteen years", "sequestration", "unauthorized entry and stay of a foreigner in France" and "working conditions and hosting contrary to human dignity".
The incident occurred between 2002 and 2006 on sometimes minor dancers and life course disturbed by the loss of their parents in the First Congo War (1996-1997), poverty and domestic violence. After being controlled paperless in Lyon where they were for a concert, three of them have decided to testify before the judges, with the support of the Committee against modern slavery.
The Franco-Congolese artist was charged and can't tread French territory where it would be immediately incarcerated. His defense puts forward the investigation vulnerabilities. "The court record is very strange, with one of the complainants who lied about his age, is being presented as minor, which turned out false, tip Emmanuel Marsigny, the Parisian lawyer of Koffi Olomide. The record that is based on charges that allowed accusers to remain on French territory where they had entered illegally ".
But this judicial episode didn't scratched the Koffi Olomide's popularity, although he was also sentenced to three months suspended prison in Kinshasa for violently struck his producer in 2012. For the Nairobi kick, he is pursued by the Congolese justice. But the abused dancer didn't want to complain.It remains dangerous to attack the king of the modern rumba, praised to the skies by the street like the Congolese government who decorated him in December 2015 of the Medal of Merit of the arts, sciences and humanities.


Source : Le Monde