Stopping Short of Restitution, King Philippe of Belgium Gives the Democratic Republic of Congo a Stolen Mask on 'Indefinite Loan' | Artnet News

Stopping Short of Restitution, King Philippe of Belgium Gives the Democratic Republic of Congo a Stolen Mask on ‘Indefinite Loan’Belgium's King Philippe shakes hands with President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi as he hands over a ceremonial mask during a ceremony at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Kinshasa on June 8, 2022. Photo: Arsene Mpiana / AFP via Getty Images.

The repatriation took place during an official ceremony on the grounds of the DRC’s parliament in the capital city of Kinshasa, where Philippe met with DRC president Felix Tshisekedi. Philippe called the gesture the “symbolic beginning” of a renewed relationship between the countries. The monarch took the occasion to reflect on his country’s 75-year-control of Congo, a brutal period of exploitation inaugurated by King Leopold II, Philippe’s grandfather, when he claimedBelgian rule in the Congo was marked by exploitative rubber farming, butchery of natives , and the genocide of as many as 10 million Congolese people—half the region’s population—between 1880 and 1920.

So they won’t return the stolen mask but they’ll loan it back to the original owners, forever, maybe?

😒😒😒

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Belgian king reiterates regrets for colonial past in Congo but no apologyBelgium’s King Philippe reaffirms his deepest regrets for the exploitation, racism and acts of violence during his country’s colonization of Congo, but stops short of formally apologizing. Nothing to apologize for. All you can really say is '...yeah [they] were pricks back then, huh?'; '...that must've sucked for your ancestors...'
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