Reclaiming the Sword: 50 Years Later, a Brief Account of Africa’s Road to Independence

On June 30th of this year, in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Belgian King Albert II stood alongside 39-year-old Congolese President Joseph Kabila to celebrate the country’s 50 years of independence from Belgium. The two men watched in silence as the Congolese military paraded along the city’s main avenue, an avenue recently renovated with the assistance of Africa’s newest “best friend,” China.

Exactly 50 years earlier, on June 30th, 1960, King Albert II’s late brother, King Baudouin, rode down the same boulevard in an open-top limousine, accompanied by the Congo’s first President, Joseph Kasavubu. He had come there to grant freedom to the Congolese people, after some 80 years of brutal colonial rule. A large crowd had gathered to welcome the “Bwana Kitoko” (handsome master), most of them unaware of the true content and limits of their eagerly anticipated independence.

More…