Renson Mwakandana
On his first visit to the former colony, Belgium’s King Philippe returned a traditional mask to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where many people are still upset by Belgium’s unwillingness to apologize for decades of ruthless control.
According to some estimates, up to 10 million Congolese died as a result of massacres, malnutrition, and illness during the first 23 years of Belgium’s reign, from 1885 to 1960, after King Leopold II claimed the Congo Free State as his personal dominion.
Villages that failed to meet their rubber collection goals were notoriously forced to offer severed hands in their place.
Philippe was the first Belgian politician to apologize for the “pain and disgrace” caused on Congo in 2020. However, he did not provide an apology, something some Congolese have demanded on his first visit since ascending to the throne in the year 2013.
Professor Antoine Roger Lokongo of the University of Joseph Kasa-Vubu in southwestern Congo said he is waiting to see if Philippe will issue a formal apology for crimes committed during the colonial era. Lokongo also added saying that the simple expression of regret is insufficient.
On the other hand, President Felix Tshisekedi and many other officials, as well as some people, have excitedly welcomed the visit, hoping that it will bring investment and a renewed emphasis on the violence in the country’s east.
“My feeling is that we should start having good Congolese-Belgium relations again, like before,” Kinshasa resident Antoine Mubidiki said. “Despite what the Belgians did to us during colonization, we are ready to forgive.”
Philippe offered Congo’s national museum a “indefinite loan” of the Suku people’s initiation mask. Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa has held the mask for decades.
“Even though many Belgians invested themselves sincerely, loving Congo and its people deeply, the colonial regime itself was based on exploitation and domination,” he told a joint session of parliament in the capital Kinshasa.
Belgium King Philippe
“This regime was one of unequal relations, unjustifiable in itself, marked by paternalism, discrimination and racism,” he said.
Belgium King Philippe
The King landed on Tuesday with his wife, Queen Mathilde, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo for a week-long tour that will also include stops in Bukavu and Lubumbashi in the east.
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