Africa-Press – Angola. Last week, the Management Committee of the Historic Center of Mbanza Kongo began the process of updating the management plan for properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, in order to comply with the recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (UNESCO).
The head of the committee’s technical office, Biluka Nsakala Nsenga, announced the fact in a lecture held in Mbanza Kongo, on the occasion of the African World Heritage Day, celebrated on 5 May.
The updating of the management plan, he said, has the participation of foreign and national specialists and technicians from the historic centre, who must complete the process within a period of five years.
Biluka Nsakala Nsenga stressed that the Angolan government is doing everything possible so that there are no problems related to the recommendations left by UNESCO, when the city was inscribed on the World Heritage List, on July 8, 2017.
Among the various UNESCO recommendations are the supply of electricity and drinking water and the construction of infrastructure in the education and hotel sectors in the former capital of the Kingdom of Congo.
“All the recommendations have already been fulfilled and the Management Committee is working on the conservation, enhancement and preservation of the entire cultural heritage of Mbanza Kongo”, he said, adding that, for this purpose, the body receives from the central government, on a monthly basis, a sum of six million kwanzas.
“It is not enough for a city to be classified. It is necessary to work on creating conditions for the satisfaction of the basic needs of the populations and these can also allow the city to have worldwide visibility and thus be able to receive more tourists”, he stressed.
The head of the scientific research area of the Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sports office of Zaire, Avelino Manzueto, considered the conservation, protection and enhancement of the historical and cultural heritage of Mbanza Kongo as a responsibility of all Angolans and not just of the Committee management. “The responsibility of conserving this world heritage of humanity belongs to all Angolans and not only to the historic center or the Culture and Tourism office”, he recalled.
Among the monuments and sites that have served as evidence of the exceptional value of Mbanza Kongo, in the world context, for its inscription on the World Heritage list are the Kulumbimbi, the first temple of the Catholic Church built in subequatorial Africa, Yala-Nkuwu, an ancient tree , the Museum of the Kings of Kongo, the traditional Court of Lumbo, Sunguilo and Tadi dya Bukukua, where the remains of the ancient sovereigns of the Kingdom of Congo were washed and mummified.
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