Days of reflection on the colonial past at the University of Kinshasa. The work was launched this Thursday, June 1, 2023, by the President of the Senate, Professor Modeste BAHATI LUKWEBO, in the Monekosso room. The aim, for the host of Rector Jean-Marie KAYEMBE, is to build on the Report of the Special Commission charged by the Belgian Parliament with examining the role of the Congo Free State and the colonial past in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, with a view to identifying the consequences and follow-up that should be reserved for it. This work will be spread over two days. Attached is the speech by the President of the Senate, Modeste BAHATI LUKWEBO, during the launch of the work.

WORDS FROM THE HONORABLE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, PROFESSOR MODESTE BAHATI LUKWEBO ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE SCIENTIFIC DAYS ON THE COLONIAL PAST IN THE CONGO ORGANIZED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF KINSHASA

THURSDAY 1^er JUNE 2023

• Mr. Minister of Higher and University Education;
• Mr. Minister of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation;
• Mr. Rector of the University of Kinshasa;
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Academic Body of the University of Kinshasa;
• Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Administrative Staff, Technique and Workers of the University of Kinshasa;
• Dear Students of the University of Kinshasa;
• Distinguished Guests in your respective titles and capacities;

Finding myself this day before this respectable audience in the great hall MONEKOSSO of the University of Kinshasa at the invitation of Professor Doctor Jean Marie KAYEMBE, Rector of our Alma Mater To share with you my thoughts on the Belgian colonial past in the Congo, I can only express my deep gratitude for the honour you have shown me by associating me with these proceedings of great historical significance.

For greater clarity and precision, during the presentations and discussions between participants, the report of the Special Commission responsible for examining the role of the EIC (Congo Free State) and the colonial past in Rwanda and Burundi will be used, with a view to identifying the consequences and the follow-up that should be reserved for it according to the terms of reference of these scientific days.

I would have liked to get to the heart of this important report, which has aroused much passion and controversy, especially at a time when our country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, is under attack by Rwanda and its allies. Due to scheduling constraints, I will limit myself to a few segments of the subject.

So that future generations can retrace the positive aspects of the colonial past, since there are some, and so that they cannot ignore the massive violations of the rights of indigenous peoples, I hope that the examination of this report will scrupulously take into account ethics and scientific objectivity by all stakeholders.

 Indeed, historical events revolving around the Belgian colonial past in Congo abound and give rise to endless debates on the accuracy of the facts. It is enough to take as an example a very serious event that occurred just after colonization, namely the death of the first Prime Minister of independent Congo, I quoted Eméry Patrice Lumumba, whose real name was Elias Okit'Asombo. Some writings had claimed that he and his fellow fighters Joseph OKITO and Maurice MPOLO had been massacred by peasants not far from Elisabethville. Another plausible version claims that they had been murdered, cut into pieces and dissolved in sulfuric acid.

From this you can already understand that the story is sometimes told according to the interest of the writer.

My hope is that this report will provide participants and future readers with the true truth about the colonial past in Congo and Rwanda-Urundi.

As you know, both national and international public opinion has always been interested in everything that happens in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The reason is quite simple. Due to its resources, its geostrategic location, and its origins since the Berlin Conference, the DRC has always been considered a global safe.

Reading through this report, the reader will notice that the Congo was considered a private enterprise of King Leopold and later of the Kingdom of Belgium. Several grievances are noted.

Let us begin with the facts for which the metropolitan power is often incriminated, rightly or wrongly.

Generally, Belgium is accused, with the King in mind. LEOPOLD II of having poorly colonized the Congo in the following areas:

1. On the political and security level:

• Formal ban on meetings and demonstrations of a political nature;
• Human rights violations and failure to respect labor rights due to
• forced labor imposed on the colonized with the use of the chicotte (fimbo), causing sometimes fatal physical abuse;
• Discriminatory application of justice. Colonizers were judged by jurisdictions different from those reserved for blacks. These were precisely indigenous courts headed by traditional chiefs;
• Dismissal of traditional authorities enjoying legitimacy and their relegation or replacement by Agents in the service of the colonial Administration to ensure the optimal exploitation of natural resources for the benefit of the metropolis;
• Limitation and control of the movements of natives whose movement from one territory to another was subject to prior authorization from the nearest Representative of the Colonial Administration;
• Construction of the railways (the battle of the rails) having caused many deaths among the Congolese requisitioned for the work.

2. On the economic level:

• Poverty maintenance;
• Optimal exploitation of natural resources and their export on behalf of the metropolis;
• Mandatory cultivation of food plants (peanuts, corn, beans) and perennials (coffee, cotton, cocoa, rubber, oil palm, etc.);
• Land grabbing in the Congo, all raw materials transported directly to the metropolis, particularly to the HOBOKEN factory.

3. On the social level:

• The discriminatory education system, with quality education reserved for European children (humanities) while lower-cost education (short cycles and vocational schools) went to the children of the natives) in the name of the sacrosanct principle "No intellectuals, no trouble";
• Policy of alienation and acculturation of the Congolese through the destruction of everything that could give them the courage to confront the colonial power (works of art taken away or destroyed under the pretext that they embodied evil spirits).

After having considered the misdeeds of colonization and which gravitated around the domination and alienation of the Congolese people, scientific objectivity obliges us to recognize and emphasize the fact that there are no perfect regimes nor works devoid of any imperfection;

To this end, we are listing the following beneficial achievements to the credit of the Colonial Administration:

• the use of the French language that the colonial administration had introduced in education and which constitutes a factor of rapprochement between all the tribes of the Democratic Republic of Congo in all areas (work, education, evangelization etc.);
• economic infrastructure: roads, industries, shops, bakeries, equipment, railways, airports, sea, river and lake ports, etc.;
• Palace of the Nation, administrative buildings, Governors' residences;
• the campuses of the Lovanium and official Universities of Congo and also the Higher Pedagogical Institutes (Bukavu, Elisabethville, Lubumbashi, Kisangani, Luluabourg, etc.);
• Military camps of Luluabourg, Léopoldville etc.;
• Airports, sports facilities, hospitals, clinics and health centers.
• the eradication of slavery and deadly diseases that had decimated a large part of the population such as: sleeping sickness, leprosy, smallpox).

That being said, colonization did indeed take place, and the colonial past, which unites the two Belgian and Congolese nations, is an undeniable historical fact. It is now necessary for present and future generations to become aware of this common past and to consider all the measures to transcend the differences of opinion, and even to overcome all that colonization had that was alienating, in order to master the problems that hinder the development of the former Belgian colony, instead of using them to justify their misfortune and their delayed development by indulging in all sorts of recriminations at the risk of paving the way for the recolonization of the Congolese by other Congolese.

Finally, I hope that the resolutions resulting from these scientific days will contribute effectively to raising awareness among both national and international public opinion on the ways and means of restoring peace and national cohesion and to strengthening the privileged relations between the DRC and Belgium as a metropolitan power with which our country shares a common past.

The recent audiences granted by His Excellency Félix-Antoine TSHISEKEDI TSHILOMBO, President of the Republic, Head of the Congolese State to the Joint Delegation of the University of Louvain la Neuve and the University of Kinshasa and the visit of His Majesty the King PHILIPPE of Belgium, testify to the great interest that the two Supreme Authorities attach to bilateral cooperation and to the safeguarding of the historical and unfalsifiable links between Belgium and the DRC.

With that, I declare open the scientific days on the Belgian colonial past in the Congo and I thank you.

Done in Kinshasa, on 1^er June 2023

Professor Doctor Modeste BAHATI LUKWEBO 

President of the Senate

———

Jeremiah Kunima, Rectorate