(18p) No Belgian apologies for its colonial past - A missed opportunity
The Belgian Commission on Belgium's colonial past was a failure as politicians didn't want to agree on an apology about the terror under, mainly, king Leopold II's reign in Congo, although later also Belgium didn't always act correctly. Originally an apology was planned although without compensation , but even this was too much. Belgium doesn't apologise for its past in its colonies It is beyond believe that Belgians still don't want to condemn officially and with the strongest possible wording the crimes, the genocide committed under their second king Leopold II who allowed the mutilation and dead of men, women, even children when they didn't work hard enough, and to use the violence as an example for others to work harder. Estimates are that up to 10 million people died under king Leopold II's rule over Congo as his personal property; he should never have taken that land. Remember Hitler's 6 million Jews, and most Germans are rightly ashamed of ...