{"id":16878,"date":"2022-06-12T09:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T07:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.kivuavenir.com\/?p=16878"},"modified":"2022-06-13T09:29:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T07:29:35","slug":"congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Retracing Belgium\u2019s dark past in the Congo, and attempts to forge deeper\u00a0ties"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is Belgium\u2019s history in the DRC?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a dark history between Belgium and the DRC that started in the 19th century.<\/p>\n

Between 1884 and 1885, there were a series of negotiations between European powers to formalise claims to territory in Africa. It culminated in the\u00a0Berlin Conference<\/a>. African stakeholders were not involved in the negotiations.<\/p>\n

During the conference, Belgian King Leopold II obtained international legitimacy for the ownership of the lands in what is now the Congo.<\/p>\n

From then on, he was the private ruler of the \u00c9tat Ind\u00e9pendant du Congo (Congo Free State), which was 80 times the size of his Kingdom of Belgium. Until his death in 1909, Leopold II never set foot in \u2018his\u2019 colony.<\/p>\n

But he profited enormously from the Congo\u2019s raw materials.<\/p>\n

It is\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0that about half of the then 20 million inhabitants of the Congo lost their lives due to the conditions people had to endure to extract raw materials, mainly of rubber. Some historians\u00a0refer to this<\/a>\u00a0as a genocide.<\/p>\n

After international protests, Leopold II sold the private colony to the Belgian state in 1908. After the takeover, the country was renamed Congo Belge, but the interests remained the same. In southeast Congo, the Belgians discovered large ore deposits and exported copper, tropical wood, cotton, cocoa and coffee to Europe.<\/p>\n

After slavery was officially abolished in 1910, Congolese workers received a wage for their work in the mines and on the plantations. However, this was much less than the payment Europeans received for the same work.<\/p>\n

This colonial racism continued in everyday life until the middle of the 20th century. Cities were divided into \u2018white\u2019 and \u2018black\u2019 neighbourhoods. The Congolese were only allowed to visit the restaurants, bars and cinemas of \u2018white\u2019 Europeans with special permission.<\/p>\n

From the 1950s, a broad movement\u00a0formed<\/a>\u00a0in Congo Belge to protest against Belgian foreign rule. Belgian King Baudouin I finally relented and \u2018released\u2019 the DR Congo into independence on 30 June 1960. Joseph Kasavubu was elected the first president, with Patrice Lumumba as prime minister.<\/p>\n

However, shortly after independence, there was a falling out between the independent government and Western powers, primarily the US and Belgium. They wanted to retain control over the raw materials in the Congo.<\/p>\n

After only two months in power, Lumumba was deposed in September 1960. He\u00a0was assassinated<\/a>\u00a0by his political opponents in Katanga in January 1961 with the help of Belgian and US secret services.<\/p>\n

Belgium\u2019s involvement in the political assassination was concealed until a commission of enquiry,\u00a0launched<\/a>\u00a0by the Belgian parliament in 1999, found Belgium partially responsible for Lumumba\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s happened to relations since independence?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been three major shifts.<\/p>\n

The first is when Joseph-D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Mobutu came to power in 1965. An army commander, he\u00a0seized power<\/a>\u00a0and established an autocratic dictatorship that lasted until 1997.<\/p>\n

Belgian-Congolese diplomatic relations were characterised by ups and downs during Mobutu\u2019s reign. On the one hand, Belgium wanted to maintain ties with the former colony for geopolitical and economic reasons. On the other, the Belgian government had to\u00a0respond diplomatically<\/a>\u00a0to the countless human rights abuses committed by Mobutu\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

This dilemma was exacerbated by two aspects. Firstly, Mobutu repeatedly pointed out Belgium\u2019s moral responsibility to the country resulting from colonial rule, especially in crisis situations. Secondly, there was\u00a0colonial nostalgia<\/a>\u00a0among the Belgian population. The colonial rule was romantically glorified in Belgium.<\/p>\n

The second shift happened much later. In 2020, the\u00a0AfricanMuseum<\/a>\u00a0changed its guidelines in dealing with objects from colonial contexts. The\u00a0goal<\/a>\u00a0was to make negotiations on restitution possible.<\/p>\n

The museum, in the Brussels suburb of Tervuren, was founded in 1897 by Leopold II at the height of colonialism. It served many Belgians as their first point of contact with the African colony. Racist images and colonial bias were\u00a0constructed<\/a>\u00a0to justify foreign rule in the Congo.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of thousands of ethnographic objects \u2013- mainly looted objects, but also \u2018donations\u2019 \u2013- were brought to Tervuren and are still stored in the museum today.<\/p>\n

Following this general paradigm shift, in October 2020, the Free University of Brussels agreed to return human remains from Congo to the University of Lubumbashi. And in March 2022, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo\u00a0announced the return<\/a>\u00a0of 84,000 Congolese artefacts.<\/p>\n

The third shift is King Philippe\u2019s\u00a0letter<\/a>\u00a0to President Felix Tshisekedi on 30 June 2020, the anniversary of Congolese independence. In the letter, the king expressed his deep regret for the colonial injustices committed in the Congo. This was against the backdrop of the global\u00a0Black Lives Matter<\/a>\u00a0movement in which protests against racism and the neglect of colonial history grew within the Belgian population.<\/p>\n

It was the first time that a member of the royal family had addressed the Congolese people with such words. On the same day, then Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilm\u00e8s also expressed her regret regarding Belgium\u2019s colonial past. It was the first time a Belgian head of state had done this in that way \u2013 a paradigmatic turning point in the country\u2019s historical policy.<\/p>\n

What is Belgium\u2019s proposed reparations plan?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In October 2021, the Belgian parliament\u00a0set up a commission<\/a>\u00a0to deal with colonial injustice. Ten experts were tasked with discussing several issues, including possible financial reparations and a stronger anchoring of Belgian colonial history in education curricula and society.<\/p>\n

The commission is also to provide the basis for a reorientation of international relations with former colonial territories.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the restitution of objects from colonial contexts, the Belgian government has allocated 2 million euros (about US$2.1 million) to research the provenance of the objects.<\/p>\n

For many Congolese in the diaspora in Belgium and in the Congo, this doesn\u2019t go far enough. They also\u00a0demand<\/a>\u00a0an official apology for the colonial atrocities. The government and the king have so far only formulated a \u2018regret\u2019.<\/p>\n

What are the possibilities of improved diplomatic ties?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For relations to truly improve, the Belgian state must acknowledge its historical responsibility more strongly. It must negotiate politically on an equal footing with its former colonies.<\/p>\n

Reparations are also an important issue. Even if many Belgians believe that they cannot be held responsible for the crimes of their ancestors, the Belgian economy profited greatly from colonial exploitation \u2013 and in principle continues to do so today.<\/p>\n

Congolese societies, in contrast, were deprived of the potential to \u2018develop\u2019 due to exploitation, slavery and genocide. The different current economic situations prove this historically generated discrepancy for which there must be a compensation.<\/p>\n

The broad debate alone can only be conducted in Belgian society alongside Congolese actors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Belgium\u2019s history in the DRC? There\u2019s a dark history between Belgium and the DRC that started in the 19th century. Between 1884 and 1885, there were a series of negotiations between European powers to formalise claims to territory in Africa. It culminated in the\u00a0Berlin Conference. African stakeholders were not involved in the negotiations. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":16879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"0","type":"percentage","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[{"good_text":""}],"bad":[{"bad_text":""}],"score_override":"","override_value":"","rating":[{"rating_text":"","rating_number":"10"}],"price":[{"shop":"","price":"","link":"","icon":""}],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"enable_post_split":"0","post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5314],"tags":[5531,5530],"class_list":["post-16878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-and-attempts-to-forge-deeper-ties","tag-retracing-belgiums-dark-past-in-the-congo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16878"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16882,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16878\/revisions\/16882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}