Article from La Libre Belgique, \"débats et opinions\" section (published 07-02-2023) Port of Matadi. In 1955, Belgian Congo had more than 2,500 manufacturing industries and more than two million industrial workers. Political stability, infrastructure (roads, railways, drinking water, etc.), manufacturing, public health, education: Belgian Congo (1908-1959) was so developed that…

Memorandum addressed to the members of the Parliamentary Commission

Honorary Ambassador Renier Nijskens, who served as Ambassador of Belgium to the Democratic Republic of Congo ( 2000-2004), ended his long diplomatic career in 2019 as Belgium’s special envoy to Central Africa( 2016-2019), looks back on 60 years of eventful relations between Brussels and Kinshasa, during which Belgium was often…

Anti-racism protests in Belgium have led to demands for the demolition of Leopold II. In an interview with ERR, Baudouin Peeters, general director (2019-2023) of the Union Royale Belgo-Africaine, said removing statues would not help people understand history better. You have written a letter and you want to protect the…

URBA-KBAU (Royal Belgian African Union) and Mémoires du Congo have noted with dismay the racist remarks published on social media by some Belgians living in DR Congo. These remarks are inadmissible and fortunately punishable under our laws. We call on the relevant authorities to take up the matter. URBA-KBAU and…

Dear Mr Mayor Ladies and gentlemen, aldermen and councillors, For reasons that apparently have more to do with the situation in the United States after the tragic events that took place there, we note that a petition is circulating in our country with no real basis or nuance, based on…

Thanks to new, previously unpublished archives of Kasa-Vubu, his daughter Justine, former minister and ambassador and president of the Congolese diaspora, shares with the reader personal booklets that are tangible evidence of the values and spirit that animated this personality, from his earliest years to his charismatic political leadership. This…

Reaction from Renier Nijskens, president and Baudouin Peeters, director of URBA. Ben Affleck. (c) Reuters KING LEOPOLD II AND THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF CONGO The Board of Directors of the Royal Belgian-African Union (www.urba-kbau.be), the successor to UROME-KBUOL, has learned through the press that the project to produce and direct…

Reward and pensions owed by Belgium to Congolese veterans who served during the colonial era (La Libre Afrique) – response by André de Maere, Honorary Director of KBAU. The AFP report, which also mentions a documentary on these veterans, quotes the words of two of them, who are in their…

On October 8, 2019, MusAfrica closed its doors ahead of work to expand and restore the museum. View of MusAfrica, after completion of the Quartier des Casernes. ProjetCoeurDeVille (c) Thomas Piron In addition to increasing the surface area of the complex (from 650m² to 850m²), the museum will be equipped…

Conceived at the instigation of King Leopold II as a”palace of the colonies” in anticipation of the Brussels Universal Exhibition in 1897, The aim was to show the Belgians as many objects and goods as possible from his” IndependentState of the Congo”; even an African village had been set up…