Charles du Bus de Warnaffe

Mr. Chairman,
Members of the Congolese delegations,

On August 20, 1908, the two Belgian Houses of Parliament passed the law ratifying the treaty by which Congo was ceded to Belgium. Fifty-two years later, they are preparing to adopt the provisional basic law that paves the way for the impending accession to independence of Congo.

After half a century, the union of a mother state and its colony comes to an end, and a new era begins in the history of a nation whose destiny has been closely intertwined with that of our two peoples.

At this round table, which we are about to leave, the foundation was laid for this new destiny.

My parliamentary colleagues and I, along with our counterparts in the other political parties, have participated in your work for a month, and in some cases, extremely actively, contributed to its successful conclusion.

At first, you from Congo and we from Belgium saw each other as strangers meeting for the first time. But the distance between us has diminished, and making personal contacts has helped bridge the gap. Candid opinions were exchanged, both among the various Congolese delegations and between Africans and Belgians; and thus, we all came to know each other better.

Allow me to express the hope that this improved understanding will lead to mutual trust, and that all will contribute to its justification and strengthening in the future, whether this trust exists between the political leaders and tribal chiefs of Congo or between Africans and Belgians.

Mutual trust is the result of mutual frankness and the desire to understand each other better. Trust creates infinite possibilities for fruitful cooperation between individuals and nations that value each other and are determined to help each other for the common good. Let this be the ambition of our two countries.

The task that you are now facing is overwhelming: you will discover for yourselves the immensity, complexity, and difficulties of it when you begin to tackle it. Indeed, I would be a very raw parliamentarian if I did not realize how many causes of disagreement there will be in your public life. But every time one of you spoke here to your compatriots and called them your brothers, I told myself that you would understand the full meaning of Saint Exupéry's words: "Only those who work together are truly brothers".

To cooperate, united in will, towards the same goal - in this case, the creation and development of your new state. This is the great adventure that the brotherhood of men and women of your country is about to embark upon. Stand shoulder to shoulder; let nothing deter you from achieving such a lofty ideal; and never forget that the Belgian people, far removed from the barren forms of nationalism that brought people into conflict with each other, as partners in the brotherhood of mankind, are always ready to assist you.

Take the hand that is extended to you, so that tomorrow the tasks you have undertaken and those entrusted to you, which have also been ratified by us in recent days, become definitively reality.

I do not know which national flag you will adopt for your new state. Whatever form it takes, I hope you retain the star. Let it shine brightly and purely in the sky; let it guide you to the great destiny promised to what, I hope, will be a friendly Belgian-Congolese community.

I salute the future that you are about to build.