Lumumba's remains returned: Belgian prime minister De Croo apologises

Belgian prime minister Alexander De Croo has acknowledged that several former Belgian ministers were "morally responsible" for the circumstances leading to Patrice Lumumba's murder on 17 January 1961. He did so on Monday in a speech on the occasion of the return of the former Congolese prime minister's remains, during which he also apologised.

"It is a painful and unpleasant truth. But it must be said," prime minister De Croo said in the presence of Congolese prime minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde during a ceremony at the Brussels Egmont Palace. The speech followed the return of the remains of Patrice Lumumba to his family.

It was federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw who shortly before handed over the box, which contained a tooth, to three children of the assassinated prime minister of independent Congo. The Belgian court had confiscated the tooth from the daughter of Gerard Soete, a Belgian agent involved in the murder.

Lumumba was executed by local soldiers in separatist Katanga only a few months after independence from Belgium, in the presence of Belgian officers. The body of the 35-year-old politician was dissolved in sulphuric acid.

"It is possible that Belgian ministers, diplomats, officials or military did not intend to have Patrice Lumumba killed. There is no proof of that. But they should have seen that the transfer to Katanga would endanger his life. They should have warned, they should have refused any help to transfer Lumumba to the place where he was executed. They chose not to see it. They chose not to act," prime minister De Croo said.

Twenty years ago, then Foreign minister Louis Michel had already expressed his deep regret to Lumumba's family and the Congolese people, after a parliamentary commission of enquiry concluded that several ministers in the Gaston Eyskens government bore "moral responsibility" for the circumstances that led to the murder.

"We have recognised this moral responsibility of the Belgian government and I repeat it today on this official farewell day of Belgium for Patrice Lumumba. In the presence of his family, I would in turn like to apologise to the Belgian government for the way in which it weighed up the decision to end the life of the first prime minister of independent Congo," De Croo said. ​

The Belgian prime minister pointed out that two years ago King Philip had also expressed his deep regret for the violence and atrocities committed during the colonial period in a letter to Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi. The monarch reiterated this regret a few weeks ago during a visit to Congo.

De Croo sees the return of Lumumba's remains as a new step in the new partnership that Belgium wants to establish with Congo.

That it took 60 years for the remains to be returned is "not something to be proud of", the prime minister acknowledged to the press. But "it is important that we can face up to a part of our history and put it into words, so that we can turn the page and start a new chapter," he said, pointing to the much improved relations with Congo.

The forthcoming parliamentary approval of a law giving the go-ahead for the restitution of cultural heritage also fits into this framework.

Around noon, the hearse left for the Congolese embassy. Its departure for Kinshasa is scheduled for 21 June. After that, the Congolese are organising a tour of the coffin through the country, passing among others Lumumba's native village Onalua, his political stronghold Kisangani and Shilatembo, the place in Katanga where he was murdered. On 27 June, the coffin will return to the capital, where his remains will be interred in a mausoleum on 30 June.

(AHU)

© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS MAETERLINCK - Prime Minister Alexander De Croo delivers a speech at an official ceremony to return the remains of Congolese Patrice Emery Lumumba to his family, Monday 20 June 2022, at the Egmont Palace, in Brussels. Congolese independence leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo Patrice Lumumba was executed in 1961 in Katanga. After his assassination his remains were kept by Belgium.