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King Philippe’s six-day trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo is billed as a chance to build new ties between the two countries
King Philippe’s six-day trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo is billed as a chance to build new ties between the two countries.
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium were greeted at the international airport of Kinshasa by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his wife Denise. It was the first time since 2010 that a Belgian monarch visited DRC. The DRC was ruled as a colony by Belgium. The King is accompanied by the Belgian Prime Minister, who embarked on the six-day trip alongside the king, saying it was a historic moment.
Tshisekedi and King Philippe are due to hold a ceremony at the Congolese parliament Wednesday. Then on Friday, the monarch will deliver a speech to university students in the southern city of Lubumbashi. The king will discuss the question of returning artworks looted during the colonial era. Some observers believe the trip provided a chance for reconciliation after atrocities committed under Belgian colonial rule.
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The visit comes as Belgium gets ready to return a tooth — the last remains of Patrice Lumumba — a hero of the anti-colonial struggle. Lumumba was murdered by Congolese separatists and Belgian mercenaries in 1961, and his body dissolved in acid, but the tooth was kept as a trophy by one of his killers, a Belgian police officer.
