Belgium was, of course, the colonial power in Congo until 1960, and links between the two countries remain strong. Millions of Congolese are said to have been killed or worked to death . Belgiums water resources are concentrated in the southern part of the country. This was against the backdrop of the global Black Lives Matter movement in which protests against racism and the neglect of colonial history grew within the Belgian population. Flanders' unemployment levels are generally only about half those of Walloon. The answer is that it comes from Congolese blood. Much of that money, Hochschild suggests, went to buying Leopold's teen-age mistress, a former call girl named Caroline, expensive dresses and villas, and building ever grander . In the Congo Free State, Congolese hands were sys- tematically amputated when enslaved Africans failed to meet quotas for extract- ing rubber. Belgium is one of the worlds leading processors of cobalt, radium, copper, zinc, and lead. U.S. Relations With Democratic Republic of the Congo 1909 The Congo Reform Association, founded in Britain, ends forced labor in the Congo Free State, today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They also demand an official apology for the colonial atrocities. The horrific consequences of rubber's toxic past - BBC News Quiz, Match the Country with Its Hemisphere Quiz. "I sense a lot of nervousness in Belgium regarding a formal apology as Congo might use it to demand financial reparations", Nadia Nsayi, a political scientist who specialises in Congo, told Reuters. When the Belgian King Leopold II acquired the Congo Free State during the Scramble for Africa in 1885, he claimed he was establishing the colony for humanitarian and scientific purposes, but in reality, its sole aim was profit, as much as possible, as fast as possible. However, thanks to Belgium's high personal savings rate, the Belgian Government financed the deficit from mainly domestic savings, minimizing the deleterious effects on the overall economy.[20].
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