(ANSA-AFP) – ROME, MAY 24 – 61 years after the assassination of the Congolese hero Patrice Lumumba, killed by Belgian mercenaries after the declaration of independence and then dissolved in acid, Belgium will return to the Democratic Republic of Congo one of his “relics”.
The ceremony will take place on June 20, with a Congolese delegation going to Brussels personally.
There is only one tooth left of Lumumba. For this reason, the ceremony is intended to be more of a crucial moment in diplomatic relations between Belgium and Congo. A further confirmation of the political line shown by the Belgian royal family, after King Philip’s visit to the Congo on 10 May.
Belgium’s plan was to return this relic as early as 2020. But the ceremony was postponed several times, first due to the pandemic, then the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
The tooth, preserved by a police officer and now recovered by the government, will be returned to be buried partly in Belgium and partly in his homeland.
His body, dissolved in acid, has never been found, and the return of this “relic” will allow a memorial to be erected in his honor in Kinshasa. (ANSA-AFP).
Source: Ansa
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