Madam, - Pierre-Paul Struye's response to Vincent Browne seems disingenuous (June 2nd). He asserts that the Congo under the control of the Belgian parliament was a "model of colonisation. . .with public services all over the country".
Firstly, I find it difficult to give credence to Mr Struye's concept of "model" oppression of Africans against their will by a European power. Secondly, the idea that the Belgians went to great lengths to share the wealth of the Congo with its inhabitants also does not stand up to scrutiny. In 1960, when Patrice Lumumba declared independence, only nine Congolese held university degrees - a measure of Belgian indifference to education.
The Belgians left the Congo very grudgingly and King Bauduoin, in his farewell speech in Leopoldville, extolled the virtues of the murderous policies of his grandfather Leopold II. Belgian paratroopers, under General Jansens and later Colonel Jacques, were directly responsible for the breakaway of Katanga, commanding the secession state's military and gendarmerie. They committed gross atrocities during the ensuing civil war, some of which were witnessed and recorded by Irish UN troops. Many remained commissioned officers of the Belgian army and quite a few were on the payroll of Brussels after the end of Katangese hostilities.
Belgium has never explained their supposedly unauthorised presence and why there were no courts martial for desertion or even war crimes. And it has still not apologised for its not very covert role in the destruction of the fledging Congolese state. - Yours etc.,
EDWARD BURKE,
Rosscarbery,
Co Cork.