On Wednesday, Stéphanie Lagasse, the spokesman of the Brussels’ attorney, stated that an investigation has been opened. The spokesman has also indicated that the fire could be related to the arrival, on the same day, of the Congolese president Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi to Brussels.

In fact, around 10 p.m. a video of the incident was shared on the Facebook page of a group of Congolese political activists –  Collectif des Congolais pour le Développement et la Paix (CCDP) -with the caption “For Congo, we’re ready for everything”.

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The President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), H. E. Sir Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, will be on an official visit in Belgium starting on Tuesday 17 September 2019.

After the official welcome by Prime Minister Charles Michel and a governmental meeting at the Egmont Palace, President Tshisekedi will be received by His Majesty the King at the Royal Palace. Furthermore, the President will meet representatives of Belgian companies. He will pursue his visit in Belgium by work meetings with institutional and economic actors.

 

 

The official visit confirms the revitalization of the very close relationship between the DRC and Belgium and offers the opportunity to widen and intensify the bilateral cooperation. The exchanges on the Congolese government’s expectations and projects will allow both countries to identify the areas in which Belgium could support the efforts for reforms and changes announced by the Congolese government for the benefit of the population.

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Minister Reynders conveyed this intention to President Sassou-Nguesso when he visited Congo-Brazzaville in mid-September, as part of an African tour which brought him also to Benin, South Africa and Angola.

This diplomatic presence, effective with the arrival this week of a chargé d’affaires en pied, will allow to strengthen our dialogue with the Republic of the Congo on bilateral, regional and international issues.

The Embassy will be hosted by the Delegation of the European Union. It will not exercise any consular competences for the time being.

With the opening of this embassy, the Belgian diplomatic network will now count 118 career posts, of which 83 embassies, 17 consulates general, 5 consulates, 1 Belgian office and 4 diplomatic offices.

Embassy of Belgium in Brazzaville

Mr. Frédéric Meurice, Chargé d’Affaires en pied

Address:
c/o Delegation of the European Union to Congo (Brazzaville)
Croisement rue Duplex – rue de la Libération de Paris
Quartier Blanche Gomes
B.P 2149, Brazzaville, République du Congo

Tel: 00 (242) 05 500 24 00
E-mail: Brazzaville@diplobel.fed.be

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Speaking at the press conference, Mvemba outlined his vision for a new Congo, and his hopes for the lost generation of young people deprived of hope.

« The most important thing for Congo is for politicians to put aside their divisions and work for the Congolese people. Congo is a rich country – we have everything we need to be successful – but the country has been dragged down for years by bitter political infighting between two camps. We need to stop the labelling people with political brands – it doesn’t serve the Congo people. What is important is that Congolese politicians work to serve the country and the people, not to serve themselves ».

Mvemba outlined his priorities for a future Congo – food security, state health services, and free State education until the age of 18. « Why do we import our basic foodstuffs when we could be a global agricultural powerhouse? We need to industrialise our agriculture, our aquaculture industries in our River Congo, and our Lake Tanganyika », said Mvemba. « Why do we export so much of our mineral resources to trading partners abroad? We need to create enterprises and companies in Congo to process these raw materials, and create employment at home, » he added.

Concerns about the use of e-voting machines for the first time and a rigged vote were dismissed. Mvemba said there was no choice now but to use the e-voting system, because his priority is to have elections. Elections in Congo have been delayed for the past two years over Constitutional issues surrounding the presidency of incumbent Joseph Kabila. While he hopes for free and fair elections, holding elections represents for Mvemba a step forward in the right direction, and an end to the stasis that has paralysed the country for years.

Francois MVEMBA is standing as an independent, without the backing of an established political party, or a dynastic political family. He said he would not be prepared to serve in anyone else’s government, because what the Congolese people want is something new. Though he stressed that there would be no vengeance or retribution for those who have held the reins of power before him. « Whatever is done, is in the past. There will be no settling of accounts, no rancour. I come in peace and ask for respect. I wish to work with anyone who is prepared to work together in the interests of Congo. Corruption is the scourge of our country, but we need to pay state employees better, so they don’t have to resort to bribes in order to live. »

Addressing the Congolese nationals gathered, Mvemba said that young people in Congo have been sacrificed and stressed the value that the diaspora could bring to a developing Congo. Mvemba’s plan would see financial help and micro-credit loans directed towards returning emigrants, to encourage them to start businesses in if they returned.

35 years young, Mvemba appealed to the young population of Congo at home and abroad to vote for something new. « Congo needs a new generation of politicians.  Congo must go forward. Don’t choose what you’ve already had. »

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“We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history. And we have won,” United States President Harry Truman announced in 1945. He was referring to the atomic bomb, two exemplars of which were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 6^th and 9^th of August.

These bombs, playfully referred to as Fat Man and Little Boy, killed over 100,000 people, most of whom were civilians. Their origins lead us to the colonial past of the Congo, which played a mostly unknown role in the creation of the atomic bomb.

Uranium from the Congo

Most of the uranium used for building Fat Man and Little Boy was mined in the Congo. The Belgian company providing it was called Union Minière du Haut Katanga (UMHK), and it made use of a system of debt slavery at its mine Shinkolobwe.

As American author and journalist, Tom Zoellner, explains, workers at the Shinkolobwe mine were paid the equivalent of twenty cents per day. They had to pay extremely high taxes and were not permitted to choose their own occupations. Workers were also not informed about the hazards of working and living around the mine.

One descendant of a worker at Shinkolobwe, Sylvie Bambemba Mwela, recounted her grandfather’s poisoning by radiation, who she claims had a piece of brain come out of his mouth. It is the same radiation that would haunt Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1946, the US honoured UMHK’s director Edgar Sengier for his “outstanding services” that made the atomic bombs possible with a Medal of Honour.

The Ghost of Belgium

The system of slavery from which Sengier benefitted goes back to a colonial framework laid by Belgians. In 1885, the country became Belgian King Leopold II’s private property. The Congolese were forced to harvest natural rubber, much sought-after during the Industrial Revolution, and to collect ivory.

As a result, Leopold II became one of the richest men in Europe. One remnant of his wealth is the Cinquantenaire Arch in Brussels, built from the king’s own pocket. Once the degree to which Leopold II had exploited the Congo became public, it was transformed into a Belgian colony in 1908. Between the 1880s and 1920s, the country’s population halved.

Breaking the Silence

History usually benefits its winners. Leopold II is still commemorated for his deeds with statues across Belgium; the US bombing of Japan is remembered for ending the Second World War, and Edgar Sengier was honoured with a medal for his role in the making of these bombs.

Meanwhile, history’s losers are often forgotten. Their ghosts are the dead civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the slave laborers of Shinkolobwe, and the millions killed by Leopold II’s quest for wealth. Last week’s anniversary of the bombing of Japan is an opportunity to honour all of them by lifting the mantle of silence.

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In line with the EU and its international partners, Belgium underlines the importance of a truly credible and inclusive electoral process, in conformity with the Constitution and the New Year’s Eve Agreement of 2016. This should allow all Congolese to participate in the election process and to freely elect the candidate of their choice.

Belgium fully supports the calls from the Chairperson of the African Union Commission as well as from the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs to fully respect the rights and liberties of all Congolese as needed in order to ensure peaceful elections on the planned date of 23rd December 2018.

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Associations have been calling for a tribute to Patrice Lumumba in Brussels for several years, and now this Saturday, their efforts were realised. Inaugurated precisely 58 years after Congo gained independence, this symbolic gesture is intended to reflect Belgium’s colonial past and aim to display a leader from the region. A hundred people went to witness the unveiling in the square.

Lumumba served as the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister in 1960, but after infighting in the newly established cabinet, was executed in 1961. Belgium, along with the US, is suspected in having played a part in it. A parliamentary committee had concluded a moral responsibility that the Belgian government played in the incident.

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Anne Laudisoit first came to the Democratic Republic of Congo to study a disease that is carried by worms and causes blindness. But on their travels the through mountainous areas, the two Belgians made quite a different discovery. In small patches of forest in these hills and measuring to less than a square kilometre, families of chimpanzees were thriving far away from all human activity.

Experts were baffled as they believed they should not have survived in such a microcosm. So the women returned to find these forgotten primates accompanied by a team from the University of Kisangani. The footage shot throughout this journey is now being compiled into a documentary to present this scientific expedition and is due to be released in autumn 2018, titled – Called Mbudha, sur les traces des chimpanzés (Mbudha, on the trail of the chimpanzees).

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