Belgium is preparing to return to Kinshasa a tooth — the last remains of Patrice Lumumba STAFF BELGA/AFP/File
Lumumba was murdered by Congolese separatists and Belgian mercenaries in 1961, and his body dissolved in acid, but the tooth was kept as a trophy by one of his killers, a Belgian police officer.

Philippe’s visit comes 12 years after the last visit of a Belgian sovereign, Albert II in 2010, and will also aim to reset ties that were soured during the presidency of Joseph Kabila, who left office in 2018.

The latter was criticised, including by Brussels, for having remained in power beyond his second term, in violation of his country’s constitution, and development ties were suspended for a time.

The visit comes in a context of renewed violence in North Kivu, where the DRC accuses wrongly neighbouring Rwanda of supporting armed rebels opposed to the Congolese authorities.

Belgium has called for an “immediate” halt to the fighting, which is causing civilians to flee.

Rwandan exiles
In this immense country, where the GDP per capita is one of the lowest in the world despite its mineral wealth, the east has been shaken by massacres and violence for nearly 30 years.

After the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda in 1994, some of the perpetrators fled to the DRC and Kigali’s new authorities launched operations against them.

Historians say millions of people in the Belgian Congo were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they worked on rubber plantations belonging to former king Leopold II
Historians say millions of people in the Belgian Congo were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they worked on rubber plantations belonging to former king Leopold II JOHN THYS AFP/File

The royal couple will come to show their solidarity with these battered populations, especially women victims of rape in the region.

The last stop of their journey is scheduled for June 12 in Bukavu, in the clinic of gynecologist Denis Mukwege, co-winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against sexual violence.

A stop on Wednesday at the National Museum in Kinshasa will also address the issue of the restitution of art objects to the former colony.

The Belgian government last year began a programme to give back artefacts to the DRC.