KINSHASA: Belgium will return a tooth taken from the remains of assassinated Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba to his family by the end of June, President Felix Tshisekedi said Monday.
The tooth had been seized from a Belgian policeman who by his own account took it while helping to dispose of Lumumba’s body after the charismatic leader was murdered in 1961.
Tshisekedi, in a state of the nation address before parliament, said the tooth would be returned in time for independence anniversary celebrations on June 30.
“On the sidelines of the 61st anniversary of our independence, the country will demonstrate its gratitude to prime minister Patrice Lumumba,” he said.
A pan-Africanist who played a key part in steering Belgian Congo toward independence, Lumumba was appointed the newly decolonized country’s first premier at the age of just 34.
In the presence of the then-king Baudouin, he used the moment of independence to lash Belgium for racist persecution and forcing “humiliating slavery” on the Congolese people.
Historians say millions were killed, mutilated or died of disease as they worked on rubber plantations belonging to the rapacious 19th-century king Leopold II.
Lumumba was overthrown, then jailed, tortured and finally killed by firing squad in January 1961. Forty years later, Belgium acknowledged it bore “moral responsibility” for his death.
His body was never found.
A Belgian judge ruled in September that the tooth should be returned to Lumumba’s family.
A spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office described the return as a symbolic gesture, since there was no “absolute certainty” that the tooth was Lumumba’s.
“No DNA test has been carried out, it would have destroyed it,” he said.
Belgium to return slain DR Congo leader’s tooth by June
https://arab.news/j7fjd
Belgium to return slain DR Congo leader’s tooth by June
- The tooth had been seized from a Belgian policeman who by his own account took it while helping to dispose of Lumumba’s body after the charismatic leader was murdered in 1961
- President Felix Tshisekedi, in a state of the nation address before parliament, said the tooth would be returned in time for independence anniversary celebrations on June 30
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
