The first links between the two cities were forged in Bordeaux, between Jean-Baptiste Etcheverry, current president Anglet Amitié Konna, Gaël Rabas, the founder of the Théâtre du Versant and Ibrahima Kampo, who later became mayor and then customary chief of Konna, constituted of a community of 28 villages where five ethnic groups live together.
This friendship continued and in 2006, within the framework of a European programme, encouraged the development of cultural exchanges between Konna and Anglet, which then had Robert Villenave as mayor. In 2010, a new step was taken thanks to the fifth promotion of engineers from Isa BTP, within the framework of Human’Isa. This association allows future engineers to go abroad each year to carry out a solidarity project in partnership with an NGO. This allowed Konna to be equipped with a space for meetings and activities, called Maison d’Anglet, inaugurated a little later by the mayor at the time, Jean Espilondo. In 2011, Anglet Amitié Konna was created to provide a framework and strengthen relations between the two towns.
Subsequently, jihadism came to upset the serenity of these relations and in 2013, Konna found herself at the heart of the troubles. The arrival of the French army, as part of Operation Serval, temporarily put an end to this. But chaos has returned at full gallop in recent months.
Help at the health center
The former mayor and kingpin of relations between the two cities had to leave Konna for his safety. Other usual Anglet Amitié Konna interlocutors did the same. “It has become much more difficult to communicate with them, regrets Jean-Baptiste Etcheverry. We no longer really know what has become of the Maison d’Anglet. It seems that the cereal mill and the machine for making peanut paste, which we had financed to enable women to develop a paid activity, continue to operate. »
In this context, Anglet Amitié Konna has chosen to refocus its activity exclusively on the health center. “It is an indispensable and useful tool for everyone, civilians, jihadists or others. Anyone can come here when they need to. »
The Angloye association intends to relaunch its activities in order to raise funds for this health centre. “He lets us know his needs. We are in contact with the Konna pharmacy, through which we pass the money. It then delivers the products or materials requested to the health centre. », says Jean-Baptiste Etchevy.
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