By RFPosted on 19-08-2019Modified on 19-08-2019 at 10:34

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an association has been fighting for the rights of abandoned Métis children since 2007. An old phenomenon that persists in 2019, and concerns nationals of several countries, particularly Europeans. The story is often the same: expatriates make children with Congolese women, then leave the DRC without recognizing them or providing for them.

The phenomenon dates back to colonization but continues in another form today. How many are these abandoned half-breeds? No one knows for sure, because of the lack of a census, but the 300-member Asmeco Mixed Race Association of Congo speaks of a " frequent " phenomenon.

It regularly alerts the Congolese authorities and foreign chancelleries on the tragedy experienced by these mothers and children so that they can take the measure of the problem and help them.

" I do not know what to do with this child "

" He did not want it. He told me " or I leave you or we stay together, but we do not speak of child " , remembers Jeanne Bilomba, now member of Asmeco. She is not yet 30 when she meets the father of her son, an employee of a mining company who lived between Belgium and the DRC .

Their romance lasts for several years until Jeanne becomes pregnant. But his son's father does not recognize the child. " I have no paper. He told me he would not come to the Congo, " says the young woman. She later discovers that the one she considers as her husband has a wife in Belgium. His stays in the DRC are becoming rarer, as is his financial support. He died in Belgium in 2016.

" I do not know what to do with this kid, I do not have money. I had an accident, I can not walk, I do not know how to manage, I can not even afford to buy milk. And I always have stomach that hurts me ! Exclaims Jeanne Bilomba in a voice that is exhausted.

The father of his child, he only has a printed photo and a photocopy of a passport. Too few elements to engage in an administrative and judicial fight uncertain and expensive, to establish the paternity of his son, Julien, 12 years, complexion and clear eyes.

" I feel a little bizzarre, it's not quite normal. The others at school tell me that it's not people like us, we do not have the same skin , it worries me , "says the boy, his face sad and that seems to carry the weight of the trauma of this abandonment. His mother fears not being able to pay for his studies next year, while Julien has a dream: to become an airplane pilot.

For Asmeco, " injustice " has lasted long enough

The phenomenon does not only concern Belgium, but the association Asmeco focuses its efforts on the former colonial power. She filed a memo at the beginning of July at the Belgian embassy in Kinshasa. For the association, the " injustice " suffered by the abandoned half-breeds of the DRC has lasted long enough.

They are now calling for the organization of a round table with the Congolese and Belgian authorities to obtain support and " reparations ". This request, although old, has been reactivated by a recent declaration by the Belgian Prime Minister. In April last, Charles Michel officially presented the " excuses " of his country.

At issue is the " targeted segregation of the Métis under colonial rule," a time when Métis children perceived as a threat were often abandoned or even torn from their mothers and placed in institutions.

Since I was born on the school bench, my colleagues, my classmates, have always referred me to that. "You are not ours" ... We want others to take us as if we were blacks too, like them. Because we have no other country to go to now. We have a country that is Congo.

Ferdinand Lokunda Da Silva, president of ASMECO, born to a Portuguese father and a Congolese mother, deplores the double discrimination faced by abandoned half-breeds.

19-08-2019 - By Florence Morice

The words of the Prime Minister gave rise to hope within the association, but also frustration. " Forgiveness is not enough ," says Ferdinand Lokunda da Silva, president of Asmeco. " Especially since these excuses concern only the colonial period and not the situation of half-breeds abandoned since . "

If for the association Asmeco the two phenomena are intimately linked, a Belgian diplomatic source warns against any amalgamation between what was " a state policy during colonization " and what is today according to this source of the " individual " responsibility of foreign expatriates.

Be that as it may, the memo deposited at the Belgian Embassy in July was sent for examination in Brussels, where the authorities assure that this " sensitive " subject is taken seriously. The Congolese authorities recall that the law in the DRC punishes the abandonment of a child, considered as a " crime ", provided that the relationship is established.

    On the same subject

    Belgium apologizes for the fate of the half-breeds during the colonial period

    UN suggests Belgium apologize for its colonial past

    Belgium: decolonization course in Brussels

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