Protestors want Tervuren’s Africa Museum to finally return stolen artefacts to Congo. The demonstrators point to the museum’s vast collection of Congolese artefacts and significant visitor profits, as a legacy of Belgium’s brutal Congo colonization and a debt to be settled.
“These profits originate from the theft and monetization of Congo’s cultural heritage. Settle what you owe. Return the stolen goods,” said François Kamate, an environmental and human rights activist from Kivu.
The protestors highlighted the museum’s annual visitor count—around 125,000 people, each paying €13 for entry. That generates an estimated €1.6 million in revenue. The income, they say, is a stark reminder of the horrors of King Leopold II’s and the Belgian government’s colonial rule. That led to the deaths of an estimated 10 million Congolese between 1885 and 1960.
While diplomatic talks over the return of the artefacts remain slow, protestors are not backing down. They argue that if full restitution cannot be achieved, Belgium should at least pay “rent” for the ongoing monetization of the artefacts—a controversial but growing demand in debates over colonial reparations across Europe.
For more photos or comments, please like my personal news blog, Tervuren+, at https://facebook.com/tervurenplus. If Facebook isn’t your choice, you can keep up with Tervuren+ on the WhatsApp News Channel: https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaH6eCYFsn0pXGVLF22r.
© Article and photos are licensed for Tervuren+ under the Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
