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Belgian policeman had admitted taking tooth from Patrice Lumumba’s body in 1961A Belgian judge has said that a tooth taken from the remains of the Congo’s first elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, should be returned to his family almost 60 years after his assassination by rebels overseen by Belgian officers.The tooth had been seized from a Belgian policeman who admitted taking it while helping to...

Prosecutors say there are two living suspects allegedly linked to assassination of Patrice LumumbaBelgian prosecutors are investigating whether they can bring charges against people suspected of taking part in the killing of Congo’s first democratically elected leader, Patrice Lumumba, almost 60 years after his assassination.Belgium’s federal prosecutor Frédéric Van Leeuw said on Wednesday: “We are in the process of taking stock of the prosecutions...

Letter to Democratic Republic of the Congo president hailed as historic by Belgian mediaKing Philippe of Belgium has expressed his “deepest regrets” for acts of violence and brutality inflicted during his country’s rule of Congo, as the Democratic Republic of the Congo marks the 60th anniversary of its independence.The letter – to the DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi – has been described as historic in...

A century after millions died in Congo, attitudes (and street names) are changingIn the last years of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, King Leopold II of Belgium ruled the Congo Free State with a tyranny that was peculiarly brutal even by the cruel and deeply racist standards of European colonialism in Africa. He ran the country – now known as the...