DRC: memory and reconciliation work on second day of visit of King of Belgians

Philippe, his wife Queen Mathilde and members of the Belgian government whose chef Alexander de Croo arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday.

Le Monde with AFP

At the National Museum, at the Memorial of Veterans or at the People’s Palace, the visit of the King of the Belgians in Kinshasa was announced Wednesday June 8, dense in evoking the colonial past and the delicate work of reconciliation between Belgium and the Republic Democratic of Congo (DRC).

King Philippe, accompanied by his wife, Queen Mathilde, and members of the Belgian government, including her chief Alexander de Croo, arrived on Tuesday afternoon in Kinshasa, for an official visit scheduled for six days, at the ‘Invitation from the president of the DRC Félix Tshisekedi.

This visit, twice postponed because of the COVID-19 then the trigger of the war in Ukraine, is the first since that of his father Albert II in 2010 and has a strong symbolic significance.

Two years ago, on June 30, 2020, on the occasion of the 60 anniversary of the independence of the former Belgian Congo, King Philippe had expressed in a letter to Mr. Tshisekedi his “deeper regrets” for the “wounds” of colonization, a historic first. He then regretted “acts of violence and cruelty” committed at the time when his ancestor Leopold II had made the Congo his personal property (1885-1908), before the half-century of the Belgian State in the ‘huge country in central Africa.

“new partnership”

Some Congolese, such as government spokesperson, want to see the start of a “new partnership”, “uninhibited”, “equal”, when others are still demanding and repairs for Suffering endured and the “looting” of the riches of the DRC.

The second day of the royal trip will start with a wreath laying at the veterans’ memorial, an opportunity for the sovereign to award a decoration to the last Congolese veteran of the “Belgian public force” having participated in the Second World War. Corporal Albert Kunyuku, who has just celebrated his 100th birthday, had been enlisted in 1940 and was part of the military contingent of medical support sent to Burma in 1945.

The King will then go to the National Museum of the DRC (MNDC), a recent establishment funded by South Korean funds, inaugurated in November 2019. Dedicated to the country’s cultural history, it houses masks, utensils, instruments music, etc.

This visit should make it possible to approach the question of the restitution of art objects at the old colony, for which the Belgian government defined a roadmap in 2021. After a reception ceremony at the Palais de la Nation, official residence of the president of the DRC, the Congolese head of state and the King of the Belgians will find themselves on the esplanade of the Palais du Peuple, siege of the Parliament. King Philippe must give the first speech of his trip there.

a Panzi, at the gynecologist Mukwege

The second is scheduled during the Lubumbashi (South-East) stage on Friday, ahead of students from the University of the Chief town of Haut-Katanga, a rich mining region. The king will finally go to Bukavu (South Kivu), in the east of the country torn apart by almost three decades of armed violence. He will visit the gynecologist’s clinic Denis Mukwege, Colauréat of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his action in favor of women victims of rape.

The relationship between Brussels and Kinshasa was difficult during the end of the presidency of Joseph Kabila (2001-2018), criticized for having maintained himself in power beyond his second mandate and warmed up since the accession as president of Mr. Tshisekedi.

On the side of Belgium, the reflection on the colonial past accelerated in 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement linked to the murder in the United States of the African-American George Floyd. After manifestations of anger of descendants of Africans and tumbles of statues of Leopold II by several municipalities, the Parliament set up a special commission responsible for “making clarity” on this past.