Belgium wants “partnership” with central Africa

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who is in Kinshasa, has condemned the “occupation” of DRC and said its territorial integrity was a “sacred principle that must be respected”, Reuters news agency reported. He was speaking after talks with DRC Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Yerodia. Michel’s spokesman Koen Vervaeke said the visit reflected a change of Belgian policy towards Africa. “We want to develop a partnership between Belgium and Central Africa,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

Belgian government officials and civil society representatives last month met to discuss the country’s policy towards Central Africa and concluded that the region’s problems needed a regional approach. Belgium should “engage in a political commitment without waiting for peace in the region, nor for the domestic stabilisation of the states concerned,” the meeting concluded, according to the foreign ministry website. It noted that in the DRC, there could be no structural cooperation without peace. “Nevertheless, nothing prevents Belgium from promoting cooperation in the fields of justice, health, education, human rights and administration.”