Tuesday, 5 February, 2002, 18:58 GMT
Belgium apologises for Lumumba killing


Belgium has expressed "sincere regrets" for the 1961 assassination of
Patrice Lumumba - the first prime minister of the central African country
which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"The government feels it should extend to the family of Patrice Lumumba ...
and to the Congolese people, its profound and sincere regrets and its
apologies for the pain inflicted upon them," Foreign Minister Louis Michel
said.

He was speaking in parliament, which has been debating whether Belgium -
the former colonial power in DRC - should accept moral responsibility for
Lumumba's assassination.

His apology was welcomed by Lumumba's son, Francois - an opposition leader
in the DRC who travelled to Brussels to attend the debate.

"This recognition by Belgium is a determining step, a sign of political
courage that must be congratulated," he told reporters.

Mr Michel said Belgium had demonstrated "apathy" and "cold indifference"
towards Lumumba.

The debate focused on a report by a parliamentary commission that concluded
last November that Belgium did bear moral responsibility for the killing.

CIA link alleged

Lumumba was the only elected leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo
since it won independence from Belgium in 1960.


A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba was overthrown four months after he took
office, and was later murdered, aged 35.

His father's killing was blamed by many Congolese on American intelligence
services and Belgium.

A Belgian commission of inquiry has heard testimony that Lumumba could not
have been assassinated without the complicity of Belgian officers backed by
the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Anarchy

In the chaos and factional fighting after independence, Lumumba was
abducted by Congolese rivals, taken to the breakaway province of Katanga
and killed.

Two years ago, a book claimed Belgium had been responsible for the
logistics behind the killing.

But some have suggested that Lumumba's political rivals may have been to
blame.

The parliamentary inquiry and debate are being seen as a way for Belgium to
come to terms with its colonial past, correspondents say.

Lumumba was a controversial figure, seen by some as an African liberator,
while others viewed him as a pro-Soviet agitator at a time when Cold War
thinking tended to dominate western foreign policy, analysts said.

Sign of contrition

Belgium is setting up a Patrice Lumumba fund, worth over $3m, in what
correspondents describe as an effort to make amends.

It will make an annual contribution of nearly half a million dollars to the
fund.

Its aim is to help Congo's democratic development by financing conflict
prevention, legal and youth projects.

In a similar move two years ago, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
apologised to the people of Rwanda for his country's attitude during the
1994 genocide.
-
BBC News

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