Too little too late.  Belgium can take its regrets and its bloody $3 million and "shove it." Its complicity in Lumumba's death has led this beautiful country and its people into the chaos and mayhem they have, and continue to suffer, for the last 40 plus years. The fact that they waited this long, long after all the local jerks--Tshiombe, Mobutu and Kasavubu- are dead and gone, makes the  apology hard to accept.

Lonta.

BW

-----Original Message-----
From:   Felix Ossia [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, February 05, 2002 8:28 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        FW: Belgium apologises for Lumumba killing- Tuesday, 5 February, 2002

Belgium has expressed "sincere regrets" for the 1961 assassination of Patrice Lumumba - the first prime minister of the central African country which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"The government feels it should extend to the family of Patrice Lumumba ... and to the Congolese people, its profound and sincere regrets and its apologies for the pain inflicted upon them," Foreign Minister Louis Michel said.

He was speaking in parliament, which has been debating whether Belgium - the former colonial power in DRC - should accept moral responsibility for Lumumba's assassination.

His apology was welcomed by Lumumba's son, Francois - an opposition leader in the DRC who travelled to Brussels to attend the debate.

"This recognition by Belgium is a determining step, a sign of political courage that must be congratulated," he told reporters.

Mr Michel said Belgium had demonstrated "apathy" and "cold indifference" towards Lumumba.
The debate focused on a report by a parliamentary commission that concluded last November that Belgium did bear moral responsibility for the killing.

CIA link alleged
Lumumba was the only elected leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo since it won independence from Belgium in 1960.

A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba was overthrown four months after he took office, and was later murdered, aged 35.
His father's killing was blamed by many Congolese on American intelligence services and Belgium.
A Belgian commission of inquiry has heard testimony that Lumumba could not have been assassinated without the complicity of Belgian officers backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Anarchy
In the chaos and factional fighting after independence, Lumumba was abducted by Congolese rivals, taken to the breakaway province of Katanga and killed.

Two years ago, a book claimed Belgium had been responsible for the logistics behind the killing.
But some have suggested that Lumumba's political rivals may have been to blame.
The parliamentary inquiry and debate are being seen as a way for Belgium to come to terms with its colonial past, correspondents say.

Lumumba was a controversial figure, seen by some as an African liberator, while others viewed him as a pro-Soviet agitator at a time when Cold War thinking tended to dominate western foreign policy, analysts said.

Sign of contrition
Belgium is setting up a Patrice Lumumba fund, worth over $3m, in what correspondents describe as an effort to make amends.

It will make an annual contribution of nearly half a million dollars to the fund.
Its aim is to help Congo's democratic development by financing conflict prevention, legal and youth projects.
In a similar move two years ago, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt apologised to the people of Rwanda for his country's attitude during the 1994 genocide.