Congo still important for Belgium

The Democratic Republic of Congo will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence on June 30. The daily Le Soir stresses the importance of Belgian King Albert II's presence at the celebrations in Kinshasa: "If the King decided not to go it would prove all the 'realists' right who have long known that Belgium, situated by accident at the centre of Europe, has never been anything but an accident of history: no more than a timid little country whose investors fear the African lands so profitable to them in former times. A country that has sold its banks, liquidated its industrial capacity and tossed its ambitions to the wind. An egoistical people who turn their backs on their past illusions while still profiting from an oftentimes overblown reputation. If the King does not go to Kinshasa it would allow the Congolese finally to cut the ties that bind them to the former colonial power."

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