DR Congo calls on Belgium to acknowledge colonial injustices
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is calling for the recognition of injustices committed during Belgium’s colonial rule, a Congolese lawmaker said at an international conference in Baku.
“Reparations should not be limited to financial compensation. First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge the injustices committed, address their consequences and ensure that such acts are not repeated in the future,” C-B. Francis Tshibalabala Mukunay, a member of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said.
He made the remarks at the international conference titled “Injustices of Belgian Colonialism and 101 Years of Struggle for Reparations,” organized by the Baku Initiative Group.
Mukunay said reparations should also pave the way for a new relationship between Belgium and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, free from the burdens of the past and based on equality and mutual respect.
“The Congolese people do not want history to be erased; they want it to be acknowledged as it was and taught. History that we refuse to confront will always return to affect relations between peoples. On the contrary, history that is acknowledged, taught and accepted can become the starting point for a new relationship,” he said.
The lawmaker stressed that the reparation process should also include the restitution of works of art and cultural property, as well as the return of archives and human remains to their countries of origin.
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