Mr president, Gentlemen,
The independence of Congo is the end result of the work started with the exceptional personality of King Leopold II, which he tackled with determined courage and which has been continued with persistence by Belgium.
It represents a defining moment in the destination, not only of Congo itself, but I have no hesitation in saying it, of all of Africa. For 80 years, Belgium has sent the best of its sons to your country, first to liberate the Congo Basin from the horrible slave trade that thinned out your populations, later to bring the different peoples — who used to be enemies — closer together and present themselves. prepare to form together the largest of the independent African states; finally to bring a happier life to the different regions of Congo that you represent here in the same parliament.
At this historic moment, our thoughts must turn to the pioneers of the emancipation of Africa, and those who, after them, made Congo what it is today. They deserve our admiration and your appreciation, for it was they who, by sacrificing their best strengths and even their lives to a great ideal, brought you peace and enriched your moral and material possessions. They must never be forgotten, neither by Belgium nor by the Congo.
When Leopold II embarked on the great work that is being crowned today, he did not come here as a conqueror but as a bringer of civilization. From the start, Congo has opened its borders to international trade, without Belgium ever exercising an exclusive right focused solely on its own interests. Congo has been given railways, all kinds of sea and air lines, which, by connecting your populations with each other, have promoted their unity and expanded the countries to the world. A medical service, which was set up several decades early, has been patiently organized and has delivered you from many devastating illnesses. Numerous and remarkably well-equipped hospitals have been built. Agriculture has been improved and modernized.
Major cities have been built, and throughout the country, living conditions and hygiene are showing remarkable progress. Industrial companies have done justice to the natural resources of the soil. The expansion of economic activity has been significant; it has increased the prosperity of your population and has given the country the technicians indispensable to its development. Thanks to the missionary schools, as well as those who established the public powers, basic education has expanded considerably; an intellectual elite is forming, and your universities will grow rapidly.
An increasing number of qualified workers in agriculture, industry, crafts, commerce, administration, are beginning to introduce into all walks of life the individual emancipation that is the real basis of every civilization. We are pleased that in this way we have given Congo — despite its greatest difficulties — the indispensable resources that lie at the foundation of a country on the road to development. The great independence movement that is dragging the whole of Africa with it has found the greatest understanding among the Belgian government officials. In the face of the united desire of your populations, we have not hesitated to grant you this independence from now on. It is up to you, gentlemen, to show now that we were right to trust you. From now on, Belgium and Congo are side by side, as sovereign states, but bound by friendship and decided to help each other. Today we therefore return to your hands the administrative, economic, technical and social services, as well as the judicial organization, without which a modern state is not viable. The Belgian representatives are ready to lend you a loyal and open cooperation. Your task is immense and you are the first to realize it. The greatest dangers that threaten you are: the inexperience of the populations to govern themselves, the tribal quarrels that have caused so much evil in the past and cannot start again at any cost, the attraction that foreign superpowers can exert in certain regions, ready to take advantage of the slightest sign of weakness.