Belgian King Philippe has expressed his “deepest regrets” to the Democratic Republic of Congo for the acts of cruelty committed during the years that his ancestor, Leopold II, presided over the DRC.
The reigning monarch made the remarks on the 60th anniversary of DR Congo ‘s independence, in a letter to President Félix Tshisekedi.
Since the 19th century Belgium controlled the Central African nation until it achieved independence in 1960.
Millions of Africans perished during a brutal colonial rule in Belgium. Historians estimate that, during the years that Leopold II ruled over the country as his private property, the population of the Congo Free State may have halved to around 10 million.
The country and its inhabitants, like rubber, were exploited for the natural resources.
Philippe wrote for the first time in his letter to DRC President Felix Tshisekedi on Tuesday, June 30, of his profound sorrow at these past injuries, the pain of which is also rekindled by the injustice that is all too present in our societies.
The 60-year-old monarch also apologised for the suffering and humiliation caused after the end of Leopold II ‘s administration of the Congo Free State (1885 to 1908) when the country became Belgian Congo.
“I would like to express my deepest regrets for these injuries of the past, the pain of which is now revived by the discrimination still too present in our societies,” King Philippe wrote in the letter.
“I will continue to fight all forms of racism. I encourage the reflection that has been initiated by our parliament so that our memory is definitively pacified.”
There is a renewed emphasis on the history of the European nation after George Floyd ‘s death in US police custody and the subsequent Black Lives Matter demonstrations. In recent weeks thousands of Belgians have protested and statues of Belgium’s former leader King Leopold II have been vandalised. Authorities have removed a statue of him from a public square in Antwerp.