The Hindu : International / Globescan : Congo restores statue of colonial king

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Saturday, Feb 05, 2005

International

International - Globescan

Congo restores statue of colonial king

Nairobi: A statue of the late Belgian King Leopold II, whose rapacious colonial rule of Congo caused the death of millions of Africans, was on Thursday salvaged from a rubbish dump and reinstated in the capital Kinshasa. The equestrian statue, six metres high, was installed overlooking a roundabout at one end of the June 30 Boulevard, whose name honours the date of Congo's independence from Belgium. The Minister of Culture, Christophe Muzungu, said: ``We are restoring the history of our country, because a people without history is a people without a soul.'' He said the statue had been brought back to remind the people of their country's colonial past, so that ``it never happens again''. It is uncertain how long the statue will last. King Leopold, who never set foot in the Congo, controlled the vast country as his personal colony from 1885 to 1908, when it was handed over to Belgian Government rule. During those decades, his agents enslaved its people to harvest rubber, beating workers with a hippo-hide whip known as the chicotte and severing the hands of men, women and children who failed to meet their quotas. As many as 10 million Congolese are estimated to have died as a result of mass executions, diseases and hunger. —

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