CONTINENTAL DRIFT

A royal regret over DRC

King Philippe of Belgium has expressed “deep regrets” over the country’s 75-year colonial rule over the Congo — now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Philippe expressed shame for “past injuries, the pain of which is regularly revived by the discrimination that is still all too present in our societies” and acknowledged that Belgium’s rule “caused suffering and humiliation”. He expressed these sentiments in a letter to the DRC’S president to mark the 60th anniversary of its independence.

Senegal shows solidarity

Gorée Island, a 28-hectare island two kilometres offshore from

Dakar known for being the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast, is renaming one of its prime squares — from Europe Square to Liberty and Human Dignity Square, or Freedom Square. The decision was unanimously agreed upon by the municipal council and was prompted by the recent killing of African American George Floyd by a police official.