The Belgian King Philippe began a historic visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, a former Belgian colony, on Tuesday. He was received by President Félix Tshisekedi with his wife Mathilde and a government delegation at the airport near the capital Kinshasa.
The six-day journey has great symbolic significance. Two years ago, Philippe apologized for the crimes committed in his country during the colonial era. The visit was originally scheduled to take place in June 2020 to mark the 60th anniversary of Congo’s independence, but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to historians, millions of people have died, mutilated or died of disease in the Belgian Congo while working on Leopold II’s rubber plantations. Leopold was King of Belgium from 1865 to 1909 and brother of Philippe’s great-great-grandfather.
Source: Krone
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