In the followingmath of the “regrets” formulated for the pains of the colonial past, the King of the Belgians had Thursday in Kinshasa, on the 3rd day of his visit to the DRC, lighter activities, with among other things a colorful visit to merchants of loincloths.
No dancing and songs of welcome greeted the King and his wife, Queen Mathilde, in the morning at the “pagnes market” informally set up near the “beach Ngobila”, the pier from which the boats that cross the river depart. Congo to go just opposite, to Brazzaville.
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This pirate market is held mainly by Congolese women, who only sell “wax” loincloths, these multicolored patterned fabrics emblematic of the outfits of women in West and Central Africa.
“We want (the authorities) to support us, because supporting a mom is supporting the whole nation!“, launches AFP Abigaël Olemba, seller for 20 years in this market, happy that the wife of President Félix Tshisekedi, Denise, also came to the market with the Belgian royal couple.
“I sold them a loincloth at the normal price, 15 dollars. It’s a ‘demi-super’ like the one I wear“, she rejoices.
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Another saleswoman, Nadine Kabinga, is less cheerful. “They didn’t take a single loincloth from me. We have closed the market to our customers since this morning to wait for their passage“, regrets this mother of three children, who nevertheless hoped that this visit was going “attract tourists“.
“There is a real desire of the royal couple to meet local life, cultural life here in Kinshasa. This is important for an activity carried out by women“, told AFP Thomas Dermine, secretary of state for recovery and strategic investments, member of the Belgian delegation accompanying the king.
Immediately followingwards, the king and queen met Congolese professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe Tamfum, a figure in the fight once morest the Ebola virus, at the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) in Kinshasa.
In the followingnoon, they participated in a “round table” of Congolese women organized at the Academy of Fine Arts, which they visited.
Later in the day, a panel discussion on women’s rights will take place at the Academy of Fine Arts. The delegation will then take the direction of Lubumbashi, capital of Katanga, where visits to the Belgian school and the university are among other things on the program.
Finally, in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu, the King and Queen will visit the Panzi hospital. Founded in 1999 and headed by Dr. Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2018, this medical institution specializes in the treatment of victims of sexual violence ravaging the region, which has been plagued by renewed tension with neighboring Rwanda for several years. weeks.
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This visit to the DRC, the first beneficiary of Belgian public development aid, is part of the warming of diplomatic relations between the two countries since the accession to power of Felix Tshisekedi, underlines the Palace.
In 2019, the new president devoted his first visit to Europe to Belgium, thus becoming the first Congolese head of state to set foot on Belgian soil since 2007. A year later, failing to have been able to go to Congo to celebrating independence, King Philippe had sent the Head of State a “historic” letter, in which he expressed “his deepest regrets” for the “suffering” inflicted on the Congo. What to give birth, in Kinshasa, the hope of a speech at the height of the missive during this visit.
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