HALLE, Belgium: For a long time, few people in the small Belgian town of Halle paid much attention to the monuments. They were just fixtures in a local park, tributes to great men of the past.
But these are very different times, and yesterday’s heroes can be today’s racist villains.
And so it was that three weeks ago, a bust of Leopold II, the Belgian king who has been held responsible for the deaths of millions of Congolese, was spattered in red paint, labeled “Murderer,” and later knocked off its pedestal.
Nearby, a pale sandstone statue formally known as the “Monument to the Colonial Pioneers” has stood for 93 years. It depicts a naked Congolese boy offering a bowl of fruit in gratitude to Lt. Gen. Baron Alphonse Jacques de Dixmude, a Belgian soldier accused of atrocities in Africa.
These monuments, and others across Europe, are coming under scrutiny as never before, no longer a collective blind spot on the moral conscience of the public. Protests sweeping the world that followed the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed last month by Minneapolis police, are focusing attention on Europe’s colonial past and racism of the present.
Eric Baranyanka, a 60-year-old musician who came to Halle as a refugee from Belgium’s African colony of Burundi when was 3, said he has always found the statue of Jacques “humiliating.”
“I had this pride being who I was. It was in complete contradiction with that statue,” he said.
But Halle Mayor Marc Snoeck appears to be more representative of his citizenry. He said he “never really noticed” the monuments until an anti-colonial group raised awareness of them a dozen years ago in the town of 40,000 people about 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of Brussels.
“I’m part of an older generation and I heard precious little during my studies about colonialism, the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo,” said the 66-year-old Snoeck, noting he was taught about how Europeans brought civilization, not exploitation and death, to the heart of Africa.
Statues of Leopold, who reigned from 1865 to 1909, have been defaced in a half-dozen cities, including Antwerp, where one was burned and had to be removed for repairs. It’s unclear if it will ever come back.
But Leopold is hardly the only focus. Snoeck found it remarkable that protesters have not targeted the statue of Jacques, which he called “possibly even worse.”
The mayor said the statue is known locally as “The White Negro,” because of the hue of the sandstone depicting the Congolese youth offering the fruit to the colonial-era Belgian who condoned or was responsible for murders, rapes and maiming workers in the Congo Free State.
Baranyanka was lovingly raised by a white foster family in Halle and said he never experienced prejudice until after he had been in Belgium for about a decade.
His 98-year-old foster mother Emma Monsaert recalls others in town asking her if she was really going to take in a Black youth in the 1960s: “I said, ‘Why not, it is a child after all.’”
But at school, Baranyanka found out how others felt about race.
One teacher poured salt on his head, he recalled, saying it would make it whiter. When he wanted a part in a school play of the 17th century fairy tale “Puss in Boots,” he was denied a role, with a teacher telling him: “Mr. Baranyanka, in those days there were no Blacks in Europe.”
He counts himself lucky to have had a close circle of friends that survives to this day. As a teenager, he often talked to them about the monuments, his African roots and Leopold’s legacy.
“They understood, and they were grateful I explained it,” he said.
On Tuesday, Congo celebrates 60 years of independence from Belgium. The city of Ghent will remove a statue of Leopold to mark the anniversary and perhaps take a healing step forward.
Eunice Yahuma, a local leader of a group called Belgian Youth Against Racism and the youth division of the Christian Democrats, knows about Belgium’s troubled history.
“Many people don’t know the story, because it is not being told. Somehow they know, ‘Let’s not discuss this, because it is grim history,’” said Yahuma, who has Congolese roots. “It is only now that we have this debate that people start looking into this.”
The spirit of the times is different, she said.
“Black people used to be less vocal. They felt the pain, but they didn’t discuss it. Now, youth is very outspoken and we give our opinion,” Yahuma added.
History teachers like 24-year-old Andries Devogel are trying to infuse their lessons with the context of colonialism.
“Within the next decade, they will be expecting us to stress the impact of colonialism on current-day society, that colonialism and racism are inextricably linked,” Devogel said. “Is contemporary racism not the consequence of a colonial vision? How can you exploit a people if you are not convinced of their second-class status?”
The colonial era brought riches to Belgium, and the city of Halle benefited, building a rail yard that brought jobs. Native son Franz Colruyt started a business that grew into the supermarket giant Colruyt Group with 30,000 employees — one of them Baranyanka’s foster father.
Halle has escaped the violence seen in other cities from the protests, and officials would rather focus attention on its Gothic church, the Basilica of St. Martin, as well as its famous fields of bluebells and Geuze beer.
Baranyanka, who will soon stage a musical show of his life called “De Zwette,” — ”The Black One,” returned recently to the park and the monuments.
Despite the hostility and humiliation he felt as a youngster, he didn’t consider their destruction as the way to go.
“Vandalism produces nothing, perhaps only the opposite effect. And you see that suddenly such racism surges again,” he said. “It breeds polarization again. This thing of ‘us against them.’”
Devogel, the teacher, says it is the task of education “to let kids get in touch with history.”
“Otherwise, it will remain a copper bust without meaning,” he said of the Leopold II monument. “And you will never realize why, for all these people, it is so deeply insulting.”
In Belgian town, monuments expose a troubled colonial legacy
In Belgian town, monuments expose a troubled colonial legacy
- Protests sweeping the world that followed the death of George Floyd are focusing attention on Europe’s colonial past and racism of the present
Dubai crown prince arrives in India on first state visit
- With over $3 billion in foreign direct investment, India was Dubai’s top investor in 2024
- Dubai crown prince will also take part in a business roundtable meeting in Mumbai
NEW DELHI: The crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday for his first state visit to India, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his cabinet.
Sheikh Hamdan is on a two-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, leading a delegation of ministers, senior government officials and business leaders.
India’s economic ties with Dubai have been growing rapidly, following the 2022 UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which has eliminated trade barriers, lowered tariffs and eased business operations, making it easier for companies in both countries to access each other’s markets.
“Dubai has played a key role in advancing the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This special visit reaffirms our deep-rooted friendship and paves the way for even stronger collaboration in the future,” Modi said on X after the meeting.
Trade volume between Dubai and India was worth around $45.4 billion in 2023, up from $36.7 billion in 2019, data from the emirate’s media office showed.
India was Dubai’s top investor in 2024, with over $3 billion in foreign direct investment across various sectors, such as business services, software and IT services, consumer products, food and beverages, and real estate.
As of last year, more than 70,000 Indian companies have joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.
The most populous of the UAE’s seven emirates is also home to the majority of India’s 4.3 million diaspora in the country.
“It was a pleasure meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in New Delhi,” Sheikh Hamdan wrote on X.
“Our conversations reaffirmed the strength of UAE–India ties, which is built on trust, shaped by history, and driven by a shared vision to create a future full of opportunity, innovation, and lasting prosperity.”
Sheikh Hamdan, who serves as UAE’s Defense Minister, also held meetings with both his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
On the sidelines of his visit, representatives of the Dubai Chambers were presiding over a business forum in Mumbai to explore “new trade and investment prospects” with around 200 industry leaders, the Dubai Media Office said in a statement.
After Delhi, Sheikh Hamdan will continue his trip to Mumbai, where he will take part in a roundtable meeting with top business leaders from India and Dubai.
South Korean military fire warning shots after North Korean soldiers cross the border
- South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities
- Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border
SEOUL: South Korea’s military fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers crossed the rivals’ tense border on Tuesday, South Korean officials said.
South Korea’s military said in a statement that about 10 North Korean soldiers returned to the North after South Korea made warning broadcasts and fired warning shots. It said the North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line at the eastern section of the border at 5 p.m.
South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities.
Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarized Zone. But when North Korean troops briefly violated the border in June last year and prompted South Korea to fire warning shots, it didn’t escalate into a major source of tensions. South Korean officials assessed that the soldiers didn’t deliberately commit the border intrusion and the site was a wooded area and military demarcation line signs there weren’t clearly visible. South Korea said the North Koreans were carrying construction tools.
The motive for Tuesday’s border crossing by North Korean soldiers wasn’t immediately clear.
The 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ is the world’s most heavily armed border. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. It’s a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Animosities between the Koreas are running high now as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his military nuclear capabilities and align with Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Kim is also ignoring calls by Seoul and Washington to resume denuclearization negotiations.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, US President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy. North Korea has not responded to Trump’s remarks and says US hostilities against it have deepened since Trump’s inauguration.
South Korea, meanwhile, is experiencing a leadership vacuum after the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol last week over his ill-fated imposition of martial law.
Bangladesh police arrest former prosecutor for attempted murder
- The case is the latest in a string of detentions of people who had held senior positions during Hasina’s rule
- Tureen Afroz was arrested on Monday night on charges of attempted murder
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police said Tuesday they arrested a lawyer who served as a senior prosecutor at a court that sentenced Islamist leaders to death under the rule of ousted hard-line prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The case is the latest in a string of detentions of people who had held senior positions during Hasina’s rule, who is herself wanted on charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government last August.
Tureen Afroz was arrested on Monday night on charges of attempted murder, in a case linked to the student-led uprising, said Muhidul Islam, police deputy commissioner in the capital Dhaka.
The case against Afroz was filed by Mohammed Jabbar, 21, who was shot last August as security forces sought to quash protests.
“She has several co-accused in this particular case, but none are as prominent as she is,” Muhidul told AFP.
Afroz was a prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which was set up by Hasina in 2010 to probe atrocities during the country’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
The ICT sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death over the following years and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate her rivals.
Afroz played a prominent role in the cases of at least six Islamist leaders, including several from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, who were sentenced to hang. All except Ghulam Azam were executed.
This is the first time a former ICT prosecutor has been arrested on such charges.
Hasina has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges — at the same ICT court she set up — after she fled to old ally India as crowds stormed her palace.
The court’s current chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, previously served as a defense counsel representing several of those accused of 1971 war crimes.
South Korea sets snap presidential election for June 3, drawing out contenders
- President Yoon ousted last week after December martial law
- Multiple candidates emerge amid political turmoil
SEOUL: Leading contenders began to throw their hats in the ring on Tuesday as South Korea officially set June 3 for a snap presidential election triggered by last week’s removal from office of impeached leader Yoon Suk Yeol.
The power vacuum at the top of government has impeded Seoul’s efforts to negotiate with the administration of US President Donald Trump at a time of spiralling US tariffs and slowing growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Yoon was removed on Friday over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December that plunged the key US ally into crisis, triggering a new election that could reshape its foreign and domestic policy.
“The government intends to designate June 3 as the 21st presidential election day,” Acting President Han Duck-soo told a cabinet meeting, citing factors such as the time political parties need to prepare for the event.
Yoon’s labor minister Kim Moon-soo is among a handful of hopefuls who have signalled their intention to run, resigning his post on Tuesday and saying he would launch his campaign.
While not officially a member of Yoon’s People Power Party at the moment, Kim has been polling better than other conservative contenders.
“I tendered my resignation and decided to run because the people want it, people I know want it, and I feel a sense of responsibility to solve national difficulties,” Kim told reporters.
Economic conditions during a “severe national crisis” are hurting people’s livelihoods, he said.
“I thought that all politicians and people should unite to overcome the crisis and work together to help the country develop further,” Kim said.
Ahn Cheol-soo, a PPP lawmaker who was its first to vote for Yoon’s impeachment, also declared his intention to run on Tuesday, saying he was a “cleaner candidate than anyone else.”
He also vowed to secure new economic growth engines including artificial intelligence, to counter Trump’s trade policies.
Ahn fought the last three presidential elections, winning more than 21 percent of the popular vote in 2017, but dropping out and endorsing other candidates in the other two. He is not polling high enough to be included in most recent surveys.
Kim and Ahn will join a wide open field of conservative candidates trying to overcome their party’s second impeachment in as many presidencies.
Conservative Park Geun-hye was impeached, removed from office, and imprisoned in 2017 over a corruption scandal.
Lee Jae-myung, the populist leader of the liberal Democratic Party who lost to Yoon by a razor-thin margin in 2022, is a clear front-runner, but faces legal challenges of his own.
These include multiple trials for charges such as violating the election law and bribery.
Nevertheless, he is expected to step down as DP leader and declare his candidacy as soon as this week.
A Gallup poll published on Friday showed 34 percent of respondents supported Lee as the next leader, while 9 percent backed Kim, 5 percent opted for former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, 4 percent chose Daegu mayor Hong Joon-pyo, and 2 percent plumped for Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon.
Yoon was removed by the Constitutional Court for violating his official duty by issuing a martial law decree on December 3 and mobilizing troops in a bid to halt parliamentary proceedings.
The law requires a new presidential election to be held within 60 days if the position becomes vacant.
Yoon still faces criminal insurrection charges, with arguments in his trial to begin on April 14.
South Korea has faced months of political turmoil since Yoon stunned the country by declaring martial law, triggering his impeachment by parliament and the impeachment of acting leader Han.
Han’s impeachment was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and he will stay in the role of acting president until the election.
US aid cuts a ‘death sentence’ for millions: UN
- The Trump administration has largely gutted USAID, the main US humanitarian assistance organization
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The United States has ended emergency food aid for 14 countries, endangering the lives of millions of hungry or starving people, a United Nations agency said Monday.
The World Food Program (WFP), which was already grappling with a 40 percent drop in funding for this year, said it had been advised of the new American aid halt to 14 countries.
In comments on X, the agency did not name these countries.
“If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” the agency said.
The WFP is not the only UN body hit by US funding cuts, as the United States under President Donald Trump turns sharply inward and stops trying to help other countries around the world as part of an isolationist agenda.
The Trump administration told the UN Population Fund, an agency dedicated to promoting sexual and reproductive health, that it was ending two programs, the organization told AFP Monday.
One of programs was for Afghanistan, while the other involved Syria.
Other countries besides the United States have also announced funding cuts in recent months, causing alarm among NGOs and international organizations.
The Trump administration has largely gutted USAID, the main US humanitarian assistance organization. It previously had a yearly budget of $42.8 billion, which was 42 percent of all aid money disbursed around the world.
