コンゴ植民地支配「謝罪」を　ベルギー王女、国王訪問前に呼び掛け

【ハーグＡＦＰ＝時事】ベルギー元国王の末娘のエスメラルダ王女はこのほど、かつて同国が植民地支配したコンゴ民主共和国をフィリップ国王が訪問するのを前に、ベルギーは過去について遺憾の意を表明するだけではなく、「謝罪しなければならない」と呼び掛けた。（写真はベルギーのエスメラルダ王女。ブリュッセルで）
　ＡＦＰのインタビューに今週応じたエスメラルダ王女は、「カップルと同様に、謝ることはバランスの取れた関係を再構築するのに重要だ」と述べた。フィリップ国王は２年前、ベルギーによる過酷な植民地支配に対して「遺憾の極み」との思いを示したが、その際にも王女は、コンゴとの関係修復に向け、さらに踏み込んだ措置が必要だと訴えていた。
　現在のコンゴ民主共和国に当たる地域で、ベルギーのレオポルド２世（１８６５～１９０９年在位）の時代に暴力的な植民地支配があったとされ、王女は、レオポルド２世の像を撤去し、博物館に収蔵するよう求めたこともある。
　現在６５歳のエスメラルダ王女は、１６年間にわたってジャーナリストとして活動。王女としても、女性や先住民の権利のほか、鉱業や石油産業による環境破壊に対して積極的に発言している。英ロンドン中心部での気候変動に対するデモに参加中に逮捕され、メディアに大きく取り上げられたこともある。
　フィリップ国王は、来月６～１０日にコンゴを訪問する。ベルギー王室関係者がコンゴを訪れるのは、前国王アルベール２世が２０１０年にコンゴ独立５０周年に際して訪問して以来。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/02/21-11:58）

Belgium's Princess Esmeralda has repeated her call for Belgium to apologise for its colonial past and not simply express regret.
Her comments, made in an interview with AFP this week, come as the royal palace announced that King Philippe will visit the DR Congo, a former Belgian colony, next month.
Two years ago, he expressed regret for his country's colonial abuses, but Esmeralda says Belgium must go further to help repair the damage.
Belgium must apologise, she told AFP.
As in a couple, apologies are important to restart a balanced relationship.
The princess first made the call in 2020 on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement.
A great-grandniece of King Leopold II, a monarch who has gone down in history for his violent conquest of the Congo at the end of the 19th century, she also advocated the removal of statues of her ancestor and their dispatch to museums.
That stance earned her a lot of mail and criticism, she admitted.
I was not attacking my current family. We are not responsible for our ancestors, but we have a responsibility to talk about it.
She said she understands the expressions of rage against these colonial symbols.
- Prison cell -
The 65-year-old princess has made a name for herself over the years for weighing in on sensitive issues.
For 16 years, she worked as a journalist in Paris under the pseudonym Esmeralda de Rethy. More than aware of the extra weight her royal name conferred, she again became Esmeralda of Belgium to propel her activism.
Her battles: women's rights, indigenous peoples' rights, and denouncing the environmental damage caused by mining and oil industries.
I wanted to go further than just reporting the facts, said Esmerelda.
In 2019 she made headlines when she was dragged away from a climate change demonstration in Trafalgar Square by police and thrown into a London jail cell.
She was participating in a sit-in organised by Extinction Rebellion and defied an evacuation order by the police.
She spent five hours behind bars with no favour given to her royal status.
Shoes taken off. Front and side photos. DNA and fingerprints taken, said the princess, who presides over the Leopold III Fund for the study and conservation of nature.
I thought it would help the cause a bit because it would be talked about in the media, that's why I chose to do it.
But I was very privileged, I knew that if I was arrested I wouldn't lose a job or be prevented from picking up my children.
King Philippe's visit, his first to the DRC, will take place from March 6 to 10.
It will also be the first Belgian royal visit to the country since Albert II, Philippe's father, travelled there in 2010 for the 50th anniversary of the former colony's independence.