Young Man Lynched by "Black Babies"

**kellyhound** · #1 ● 02-13-2021, 10:27 AM

The inhabitants of the 6 Talangaï district of Brazzaville, Congo have once again experienced an unprecedented scene of violence. The lynching of a young man by teenagers armed with knives/machetes commonly known as “black babies”.

On Monday February 08 in the 5 Talangaï district, more precisely near the Thomas Sankara high school around 5 p.m., a young man was attacked by a group of individuals armed with knives (machete, knife, stone, etc.) resulting in the latter's death.

This scene of rare violence, which shows teenagers executing the young man in cold blood, was filmed by a local resident.

The video posted on social networks revives the debate on the phenomenon of “ black babies ” a few weeks before the presidential election.

Present for several years on Congolese territory, this phenomenon mainly represented by two “ American ”and“ Arab ” gangs has grown over the years causing the death of several individuals both in Pointe-Noire and in Brazzaville.

This situation is a source of insecurity and likely to increase the level of violence in Congolese towns.

In 2017, already several casualties, the Congolese authorities had launched an operation against this phenomenon " black babies " that led to the arrest of several gang members. Since then, operations regularly carried out by the police and some local authorities have not been enough to eradicate this phenomenon.

On the contrary, the observation shows that the problem is growing, and the populations and the authorities are shifting the responsibility.

Responding to the senators' question, last October, Raymond Zéphirin Mboulou questioned the role of certain resigning parents who, according to him, favor the development of the phenomenon known as “black babies”.

“When parents leave children in the street, this is the result, you are not going to put [the blame, note] on the public force, it is first and foremost the education of parents, he underlined.

A point of view supported by part of the opinion, " many of these black babies are clearly known in the neighborhoods and even protected by their families ", affirms Astrid, resident of the 4 Loandjili district in Pointe-Noire where the phenomenon is particularly present .

During his speech of December 17, 2019, the President of the Republic Denis Sassou Nguesso called for the responsibility of guardians in the management of the problem of juvenile delinquency, “ The law will certainly apply. But these are our children. I therefore place parents in front of their responsibilities. », He had declared.

The Minister of the Interior had, for his part, warned that sanctions could in the future be taken against parents whose minor children would be identified as belonging to these criminal networks.

The public authorities whose mission is to ensure the security of goods and people throughout the national territory should look with great interest on the issue with a view to eradicating this growing phenomenon. The question then arises as to the fate of the latter.

The tracking and arrest of these individuals, aged between 13 and 30 years, being certainly a priority, the actors of the civil society proposed in 2017 a social reintegration of these “ black babies ” in order to ensure that they no longer fall back into violence upon release from prison.