The ‘Belgian-Zairean dispute’ discussed at the National Museum of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Kinshasa, November 2^nd, 2025 (CPA), – The ‘Belgian-Zairean dispute’, marked by a historic public debate on bilateral cooperation between Zaire and Belgium, has constituted one of the most emblematic episodes of Zairean diplomacy in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a documentary source from the national museum consulted on Sunday by CPA. ‘Faced with accusations relayed by the press and Belgian parliamentarians, who claimed that Belgian public aid to Zaire was being embezzled by the Zairean authorities, a high-level delegation composed of diplomat Gerard Kamanda wa Kamanda, Professor Mpinga Kasenda and Lawyer Nimy Mayidika Ngimbi had been sent to Brussels in 1988,’ it is read in this document. The three Zairean representatives cited « organised at the National Museum; had brilliantly defended their country’s position in a major televised debate, watched by more than 700,000 viewers, during which they had highlighted the unbalanced mechanisms of so-called ‘privileged’ cooperation, which, according to them, enriched Belgium more than Congo Zaire at that time. The delegation had thus denounced a system of structural dependence put in place at the dawn of independence to limit Zaire’s economic sovereignty, declaring the end of privileged relations and the renunciation of all Belgian public aid as of January 1^st, 1989.  The debate, which pitted the Zairean emissaries against five Belgian journalists specialising in Zaire*, including Collette Braeckman (Le Soir) and Jean-François Bastin (RTBF), had reinforced the international stature of Gerard Kamanda, who was praised in pan-African circles for his eloquence and diplomatic firmness.  ‘According to several analysts, this confrontation remains a milestone in the denunciation of neocolonial* relations, which are still criticised by many African countries in their current relations with the former colonial powers,’ the source has noted.