Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo – It was Thursday, June 30, 1960, when Belgian and Congolese dignitaries gathered at the Palais de la Nation in Kinshasa, then known as Leopoldville, for a ceremony marking the end of more than seven decades of colonial rule.On that day, King Baudouin I formally declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).Outside, Kinshasa’s streets filled with scenes of jubilation as long-awaited freedom was proclaimed, albeit reluctantly, by the Belgian colonial administration.“It was unintentionally that the Belgians had declared the DRC’s independence. Many people in Belgian circles believed that the country should gain its independence around the 1980s. Generally speaking, they wanted to continue exploiting our country’s natural resources,” Akramm Tumsifu, a researcher specialising in the history of the DRC in the Great Lakes region, told Al Jazeera.He says Baudouin I’s “paternalistic” speech reflected Belgium’s desire to maintain its influence over the Congo.“For 80 years, Belgium has sent the best of its sons to your land. Firstly, to liberate the Congo Basin from the odious slave trade that was decimating its populations. Then, to bring together ethnic groups that were once enemies but were now preparing to form, together, the largest independent state in Africa,” King Baudouin I told the Congolese elite.Dany Kayeye, a Congolese historian based in Goma, believes the speech reflected disdain, given the inhuman tr …
