• Belgium’s King Philippe returned a traditional mask to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• Many people are still upset by the kingdom’s reluctance to apologize for decades of ruthless control.
• He returned the item, a Suku initiation mask, to the DRC’s national museum on an “indefinite loan” basis.

On his first visit to the former colony, Belgium’s King Philippe returned a traditional mask to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where many people are still upset by the kingdom’s reluctance to apologize for decades of ruthless control.

On Wednesday, he returned the item, a Suku initiation mask, to the DRC’s national museum on an “indefinite loan” basis. The mask had been kept in Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa for decades.

“I’ve come to return this extraordinary achievement to you so that Congolese can learn about it and admire it,” Philippe said, standing next to DRC President Felix Tshisekedi. “It is the symbolic start of the strengthening of Belgian-Congo cultural cooperation.”

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According to some estimates, between 1885 and 1960, when King Leopold II governed the Congo Free State as a personal domain, massacres, famine, and illness killed up to 10 million Congolese.

Villages that failed to meet their rubber collection goals were notoriously forced to offer severed hands in their place.

Philippe became the first Belgian politician to express regret for the “pain and humiliation” inflicted on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2020. However, he did not provide an apology, something some Congolese have demanded on his first visit since ascending to the throne in 2013.

Read more: Belgian king regrets colonial ‘humiliation’ in landmark Congo trip

“They abandoned us and left us alone.” They squandered all of our assets, and now you’re inviting the Belgian king back?” Junior Bombi, a salesman in Kinshasa’s major market, echoed this sentiment.

Professor Antoine Roger Lokongo of the University of Joseph Kasa-Vubu in the southeastern DRC said he would wait to see if Philippe issued a formal apology for colonial-era crimes.

“Your simple expression of regret is insufficient,” Lokongo remarked.

Philippe came on Tuesday for a weeklong visit with his wife, Queen Mathilde, and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo. Later on Wednesday, he will speak before a joint session of the DRC Parliament.

Read more: Belgian king, in shadow of colonial past, to visit DR Congo

De Croo said, “We all know that, in that long relationship between the countries, there was a period that was painful, painful for the Congolese population,” he said. “I think it’s important to look at that straight in the eyes.”