Reward and pensions owed by Belgium to Congolese veterans who served during the colonial era (La Libre Afrique) – response by André de Maere, Honorary Director of KBAU.
The AFP report, which also mentions a documentary on these veterans, quotes the words of two of them, who are in their nineties, expressing their indignation at the “ingratitude” of the former coloniser, in contrast to France, “which to this day cares for the survivors of World War II from its former colonies and their heirs”.
André de Maere d’Aertrycke responded to this publication at La Libre Afrique.be. He told us that “it is not Belgium’s fault that veterans of the Force Publique do not receive their pensions”. In the 1970s, “the Belgian government concluded an agreement with Marshal Mobutu that provided for the cancellation of a Zairean telecom debt in exchange for Zaire taking over the payment of pensions to ex-military personnel. In 1990, Belgium also paid a pension fund to Zaire”. But apparently “the veterans never saw a penny of it”.
Money ‘lost’ under Mobutu
During World War II, about 10,000 Congolese served in the Belgian army. The issue of their pensions came up in Belgium back in 2006. The then defence minister, socialist André Flahaut, explained to our colleagues at Le Soir: “A previous government paid Mobutu an amount so that he could manage the pensions himself. An amount that was lost. The Congolese authorities were then asked to draw up a list of veterans. But that takes time. Once that is done, we will decide whether to pay the pensions or not.
Another reader of La Libre Afrique.beretired Doctor-Colonel Marc Georges – who tells us that he took part in a mission organised by the Belgian Defence for the benefit of the veterans in Kinshasa” – stresses that he “in no way wants to belittle the commitment of the two veterans mentioned”, but that “the Belgian Congolese Government did not send combat troops to Burma. It did, however, send a field hospital, the 10th Casualty Clearing Station of Belgian Congo, headed by Dr Thomas”, whose staff “never participated in combat”.
A home and Belgian ambulances hijacked
Dr Georges adds that “near Place de la Victoire, in Kinshasa, the veterans had a home built by Belgium before independence and made available to them. Theoretically, they were in charge of it and any profit they made (by organising events) should of course have gone to them.” But “the veterans never had any say in the management of this institution, which was ‘taken over’ by a person (or persons?) close to the regime”.
Finally, Dr Georges points out that Minister Flahaut had given the Congolese government “two Ford Transit ambulances and two Opel Kadetts, in perfect working order, intended for the veterans. The veterans never saw a trace of them either. The ambulances were used as transport vehicles (people and goods) by FARDC soldiers, but never to transport the sick or wounded. The Opel Kadett was used as liaison vehicles for the garrison officers.